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•TOIIX       A.      sn-TKR. 


THE 


ROMANCE  OF  THE  AGE 


DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD 


IN    CALIFORNIA 


BY 

EDWARD  E.  DUNBAR. 


NEW     YORK: 
D.     APPLETON    AND     COMPANY. 

443    &    445    BROADWAY. 

18G7. 


1,^3^9 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S67,  by 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO., 

ill  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  tlie 

Southern  District  of  New  Yorlc. 


^ 
^ 


TO  THE 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  TRAVELLERS'  CLUB 

OP    THE 

CITY     OF     NEW     TOKK, 

18     RESPECTFULLY     DEDICATED     BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


2154.13 


> 


CONTENTS. 


'<■  Page 

Introduction,        ......        7 

Early  History  of  Sutter,     •  .  .  .  11 

Remarkable  Combination  of  Events  attending  the  Dis- 
covery of  Gold,         .  .  .  .  .20 

Attempt  of  the  Americans  to  Acquire  California — tue 

Bear  Flag,  .....  29 

The  Mexican  War — The  Americans  take  Possession 

of  California,  .  .  .  .  .3*7 

California  conquered,  ....  41 

The  Mormons,       .  .  .  .  .  .42 

The  End  of  the  Mexican  War — Acquisition  of  Cali- 
fornia,   ......  47 

Establishment  op  the  Pacific  Mail  Line  of  Steamers,         48 

The  Trip  of  the  First  Passengers  from  New  York  to 

San  Francisco  by  Steamer,  .  .  .  .55 


6  CONTENTS. 

Page 
No  Positive  Knowledge  of  the  Existence  of  Gold  in 

California,  previous  to  its  Discovery,        .  .       92 

Sutter's  Condition  in  1848,               .            .  .           103 

Marshall,              .            .            .            .  .            .105 

Location  of  the  Saw-Mill,  ....  106 

Discovert  of  the  Gold,  .  .     .  107 

The  Discovert  OF  Gold  becomes  Public,   .  .     113 

Consequences  of  the  Discovery  to  Marshall,  .     .118 

Consequences  of  the  Discovery  to  Sutter,  .  .     124 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  AGE 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD     IN 
CALIFORNIA. 


Somebody  has  said  that  history  is  an  incor- 
riffible  liar.  This  remark  is  doubtless  true  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  as  applied  to  contempora- 
neous history,  which,  being  written  amid  the 
excitement  of  events  as  they  occur,  and  under 
the  influence  of  selfish  motives,  passion  or  pre- 
judice, can  only  be  relied  upon  for  its  record  of 
facts,  that  cannot  be  perverted,  and  from  which 
false  conclusions  cannot  be  deduced. 

The  discovery  of  a  New  "World  by  Columbus 
is  one  of  those  great  events  respecting  which 
there  can  be  no  mistake.     It  will  forever  loom 


8  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

up  a  towering  headland  on  the  shore  of  Time, 
to  mark  the  progress  of  the  world.  But  Co- 
lumbus, in  his  day,  was  misunderstood,  under- 
valued, maligned,  and  finally  he  sank  into  his 
grave  a  persecuted,  heart-broken  nian.  The 
envy,  jealousy,  ignorance,  and  seliishness  of 
small  and  depraved  minds,  all  worked  together 
to  hurl  the  great  discoverer  from  the  lofty  posi- 
tion he  had  attained.  It  is  only  by  filtering 
facts  down  through  the  crevices  of  ages  that 
great  truths  are  realized,  and  time  alone  can 
work  out  a  due  apj^reciation  of  great  men  and 
the  great  events  they  represent. 

Three  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  have 
elapsed  since  Columbus  discovered  America. 
The  inspiration,  the  genius,  the  heroism  of  the 
great  discoverer  are  more  clearly  discerned  and 
vastly  better  appreciated  by  the  present  gener- 
ation than  they  were  by  his  own  ;  and  the  mag- 
nitude and  importance  of  the  event  itself  are 
more  thoroughly  realized  as  time  rolls  on  and 
develops  the  momentous  results. 

So  with  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California. 
We  who  are  living  witnesses  of  the  great  event 
fail  to  recognize  its  importance.     In  the  excite- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.         9 

ment  of  the  time,  in  our  familiarity  with  the 
men  and  circumstances  connected  with  the  dis- 
covery, we,  the  first  greedy,  selfish,  unreflecting 
participants  in  the  results,  pass  away,  and  leave 
it  for  future  generations  to  appreciate  the  oc- 
currence and  properly  estimate  its  effect  on  the 
world  at  large.  As  yet  no  attempt  to  give  a 
connected  account  of  the  wonderful  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  with  the  remarkable  com- 
bination of  events  attending  the  occurrence, 
has  been  made.  In  my  present  effort  I  propose 
simply  to  rescue  certain  important  facts  from 
oblivion,  hoping  they  may  prove  an  instructive, 
entertaining  record  at  the  present  time,  and  of 
use  to  the  future  historian.  Many  of  the  facts 
stated  are  of  my  own  personal  knowledge  ;  oth- 
ers are  gathered  from  living  witnesses,  partici- 
pators in  the  scenes  described,  and  who,  a  few 
years  hence,  will  have  passed  from  the  stage  of 
action,  thus  sealing  forever  to  human  investi- 
gation the  only  reliable  source  of  information  so 
interesting  and  important. 

It  is  true  that  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia was  accidental.  This  event  had  not  the 
eclat   of  national   preparation   or  government 


10  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE    AGE  ;    OE, 

patronage,  such,  for  instance,  as  attended  the  de- 
parture of  the  first  expedition  down  the  west- 
ern coast  of  Africa,  under  Antonio  Gongalves, 
in  the  time  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Portugal,  or 
that  of  Columbus  from  Spain.  Tlie  great  dis- 
covery in  California  was  not  the  result  of  any 
foreknowledge,  preparation,  or  i)lan.  Though 
it  flaslied  upon  the  world  like  an  unexpected, 
unpredicted  meteor,  the  occurrence  was,  in  re- 
ality, the  result  of  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances as  remarkable,  perhaps,  as  ever  preceded 
or  led  to  any  of  the  great  events  that  mark  the 
history  of  the  world. 

No  ]*eligious,  political,  or  scientific  organiza- 
tion could  claim  any  direct  agency  in  the  great 
discovery,  and  none  could  command  its  exclu- 
sive benefits.  This  event,  so  far  beyond  the 
reach  of  any  one  selfish  interest,  so  world-wide 
in  its  practical  results,  was  at  last  accidentally 
wrought  out  by  natural  means,  as  humble  and 
obscure  as  those  which  gave  to  the  world  the 
manger-born  founder  of  Christianity. 

Kearly  all  great  discoveries  are  accidental, 
and  sometimes  the  most  trivial  circumstances 
lead  to  the  greatest.     It  is  said  tlie  principle  of 


TUE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFOENIA.       11 

gravitation  was  thumped  into  tlie  brain  of  New- 
ton by  a  pippin,  wliicli  fell  upon  the  cranium 
of  the  philosopher  as  he  lay  musing  under  the 
shade  of  the  parent  tree.  The  discovery  of 
America,  even,  by  Columbus,  was  accidental, 
for  history  says  that  he  sailed  to  discover  a 
nearer  passage  to  the  East  Indies,  and  in  due 
course  he  ran  against  a  continent.  So  Mar- 
shall, the  humble  employe  or  associate  of  the 
pioneer  Sutter,  while  digging  a  saw-mill  race 
away  in  the  remote  and  wild  regions  of  Cali- 
fornia, discovered  the  shining  particles  of  life's 
great  lubricator. 

SI3TTER. 

In  the  history  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  no  one  stands  forth  so  prominent  as 
John  A.  Sdttek.  This  distinguished  pioneer 
is,  in  reality,  the  hero  of  the  grandest  history 
of  modern  times. 

Born  of  Swiss  parents  in  Baden,  February 
28th,  1803,  reared  and  educated  in  that  city, 
Sutter  entered  the  military  service  of  France 
as  captain,  where  he  remained  until  thirty  years 


12  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

of  age.  At  this  period,  yielding  to  his  pioneer 
impulses,  the  young  adventurer  embarked  for 
New  York,  where  he  arrived  July,  1S34, 

Captain  Sutter's  object  in  coming  to  the 
United  States  was  to  select  a  locality  and  pre- 
pare the  way  for  a  colony  of  Swiss — his  coun- 
trymen. He  at  once  proceeded  to  the  unex- 
plored territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
selected  the  region  of  St.  Charles,  in  Missouri, 
as  a  proper  location  for  his  proposed  colony. 
But  this  enterprise  was  ultimately  abandoned, 
from  the  fact  that  the  vessel  containing  the  ef- 
fects upon  which  Sutter  relied  to  accom])lish 
his  colonizing  project,  was  sunk  in  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  proved  a  total  loss. 

After  sojourning  for  a  time  in  St.  Charles, 
where  he  declared  his  intention  to  become  an 
American  citizen,  Captain  Sutter  made  a  jour- 
ney of  exploration  to  ISTew  Mexico,  and  returned 
to  Missouri  in  1830.  When  in  New  Mexico,  he 
met  with  hunters  and  trappers  who  had  trav- 
ersed Upper  California,  and  who  described  to 
him  the  beautiful  sunlit  valleys,  verdure-covered 
hills,  and  magnificent  mountains  of  that  re- 
inarkable  hind.    These  accounts  so  charmed  Sut- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       13 

ter,  that  be  resolved  to  make  California  the  field 
of  liis  future  adventures. 

The  only  way  of  reaching  the  Pacific  coast 
at  this  period  was  to  accompany  the  trapping 
expeditions  of  the  American  and  English  fur 
companies.  In  the  month  of  March,  1838, 
Sutter  joined  Captain  Tripp,  of  the  American 
Fur  Company,  and  travelled  with  his  party  to 
their  rendezvous  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
From  thence,  with  six  horsemen,  he  crossed  the 
mountains,  and  after  encountering  the  inevita- 
ble hardships  and  dangers  of  the  journey,  the 
party  arrived  at  Fort  Vancouver. 

There  was  then  no  land  route  from  Oregon 
to  California  that  could  be  travelled  in  winter ; 
and  as  there  was  a  vessel  l^elonging  to  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  ready  to  sail  for  tlie 
Sandwich  Islands,  Sutter  took  passage  in  this 
vessel  hoping  to  find  a  conveyance  to  California 
from  Honolulu. 

On  reaching  the  Sandwich  Islands  he  found 
no  available  means  of  passage  to  California,  and 
after  sojourning  there  five  months,  he  concluded 
to  ship  as  supercargo  on  board  an  Englisli  ves- 
sel, chartered  by  an  American,  and  bound  for 


14  THE   EOMANCE   OF   TflE    AGE;    OR, 

Sitka.  Having  disposed  of  the  cargo  at  Sitka, 
Sutter  sailed,  according  to  instructions,  down 
the  Pacific  coast.  Encountering  Leavj  gales, 
the  vessel  was  driven  into  the  Baj  of  San  Fran- 
cisco in  a  distressed  condition.  They  came  to 
anchor  opposite  Yerba  Buena,  now  San  Fran- 
cisco, on  the  2d  of  July,  1839. 

The  vessel  was  soon  boarded  by  an  officer, 
who  ordered  the  captain  to  leave  for  Monterey, 
the  port  of  entry,  ninety  miles  south.  Permis- 
sion was  obtained  to  remain  forty-eight  hours 
for  supplies.  On  arriving  in  Monterey,  Sutter, 
having  dispatched  the  vessel  back  to  her  owners 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  waited  upon  Alvarado, 
the  Mexican  governor,  and  communicated  to 
him  his  desire  to  occupy  and  colonize  a  section 
of  country  on  the  Sacramento  River. 

The  governor  warmly  approved  of  this  plan, 
as  he  was  desirous  that  the  Sacramento  country, 
inhabited  only  by  wild  and  hostile  Indians, 
should  be  subdued  and  settled.  Alvarado 
readily  gave  Sutter  a  passport,  with  power  to 
explore  and  occupy  any  territory  he  should  think 
suitable  for  his  colony,  and  stated  that  if  he 
returned  within    one  year,  he    should   be   ac- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA.       15 

knowledgcd  as  a  citizen,  and  receive  a  grant  for 
such  lands  as  he  miglit  solicit. 

Captain  Sutter,  thus  empowered,  returned 
to  Yerba  Buena,  a  settlement  then  containing 
scarcely  fifty  inhabitants.  He  chartered  a 
schooner  and  several  small  boats  of  the  firm  of 
Leese,  Spear  &  Hiuckly,  three  American  tra- 
ders who  had  been  located  at  this  point  several 
years.  Jacob  P.  Leese  was  the  first  American 
settler  in  Terba  Buena.  He  settled  in  that 
place  in  1833,  having  emigrated  from  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  and  as  a  true  and  enterprising  pioneer, 
lie  stands  prominent  in  the  history  of  California 
at  that  period. 

Captain  Sutter  could  find  no  one  at  Yerba 
Buena  who  had  ever  seen  the  Sacramento  Eiver, 
or  who  could  guide  him  to  its  mouth.  They 
only  knew  that  a  large  stream  emptied  into  one 
of  the  connectiug  bays  lying  in  a  northerly  di- 
rection. Sutter  resolved,  however,  to  start  with 
his  company,  consisting  of  ten  whites — frontiers- 
men of  American,  Irish,  and  German  birth — 
and  eight  Kanakas  given  to  him  by  the  King 
uf  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Passing  through  San 
Francisco  and  Suisun  Bays,  they  found,*  after 


16  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

eight  days'  search,  the  mouth  of  the  Sacra- 
mento. Ascending  this  river  to  a  point  ten 
miles  below  the  present  site  of  Sacramento  City, 
they  encountered  a  party  of  two  hundred  Indian 
warriors,  who  exhibited  every  mark  of  hostility. 
Fortunately,  several  of  these  Indians  understood 
Spanish,  and  Captain  Sutter  soon  soothed  them 
with  assurances  that  there  were  no  Mexicans — 
against  whom  they  were  particularly  exasper- 
ated and  hostile — in  his  party.  He  explained 
to  them  that  he  came  to  settle  in  their  country 
and  trade ;  exhibited  his  agricultural  imple- 
ments and  commodities  of  traffic,  which  he  had 
prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  set  forth  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  treaty.  Pleased  with  these  kindly 
and  peaceful  demonstrations,  the  Indians  be- 
came pacified,  and  the  expedition  w^as  permitted 
to  proceed,  accompanied  by  the  two  Indians  who 
spoke  S])anish,  and  who  guided  them  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Feather  River. 

Having  ascended  this  river  some  distance, 
several  of  the  party  became  alarmed  at  the  sur- 
rounding dangers,  and  insisted  on  returning. 
Sutter  consented  to  return  to  the  mouth  of  the 
American  Eiver,  where,  on  the  IGth  of  August, 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIEORNIA,       17 

1839,  lie  caiised  Lis  effects  to  be  landed  on 
tlie  south  bank,  a  short  distance  from  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Sacramento,  where  the  city  of 
Sacramento  now  stands.  Having  landed  his 
effects.  Captain  Sutter  informed  his  party,  that 
any  feeling  disaffected  were  at  liberty  to  leave, 
he  being  resolved  to  remain  at  all  hazards.  But 
three  of  the  party — whites — determined  to  go, 
and  being  put  in  possession  of  the  schooner,  to 
be  returned  to  her  owners  at  Yerba  Buena,  they 
left  on  that  day.  Captain  Sutter  fixed  upon 
this  locality  as  his  permanent  lieadquarters,  and 
he  soon  commenced  to  build  the  fort,  afterward 
famous  as  Suttee's  Foet. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  Captain  Sut- 
ter up  to  the  period  when  he  made  his  final 
lodgment  in  California.  "We  find  him  located 
at  last  in  the  region  of  country  for  which  the 
aspirations  of  years  of  youth  and  manhood  had 
caused  him  to  search,  and  which  five  years  of 
actual  wandering  had  enabled  him  to  reach. 
Our  interest  in  the  pioneer  increases.  Little 
did  Sutter  think,  when  he  located  in  that  wild, 
remote  region,  that  he  was  to  be  one  of  the 
main  instruments  in  suddenly  creating  a  mag- 


18  THE   KOMANOE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

nificent  empire.  When  we  reflect  on  the  in- 
numerable hardships  and  dangers  through  which 
Sutter  must  have  passed,  hy  land  and  by  sea, 
during  those  years  of  determined  eiFort  to  locate 
in  the  Sacramento  country — a  region  far,  far 
removed  from  civilization,  and  as  little  known, 
perhaps,  as  any  on  the  face  of  the  earth — we  are 
almost  forced  to  believe  that  he  was  moved  by 
an  inspiration  of  great  things  to  come. 

There  is  something  extravagantly  romantic 
as  well  as  ludicrous  in  the  situation  of  this  blue- 
eyed  Swiss,  when  he  located  in  the  Sacramento 
valley.  His  companions  were  six  wandering 
whites,  of  various  nationalities,  and  eight  Ka- 
nakas, of  whom,  the  latter,  ever  faithful,  con- 
stituted what  he  called  his  body-guard.  Tiiese 
fourteen  companions  made  up  his  colony,  and 
his  army,  by  means  of  wliich  he  was  to  hold  his 
ground,  and  subdue  and  colonize  a  district  of 
country  entirely  unknown,  and  inhabited  only  b}'' 
wild  and  roving  bands  of  hostile  Indians.  This 
portion  of  Upper  California,  though  fair  to  look 
upon,  was  peculiarly  solitary  and  uninviting  in 
its  isolation  and  remoteness  from  civilization. 
There  was  not  even  one  of  those  cattle-ranches. 


THE   DISCOVEEY   OF    GOLD   EST   CALIFORNIA.       19 

which  dotted  the  coast  at  long  intervals,  nearer 
to  Sutter's  locality  than  Suisun  and  Martinez, 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Sacramento, 

The  Indians  of  the  Sacramento  were  known 
as  "Diggers."  The  efforts  of  the  Jesuit  Fa- 
thers, so  extensive  on  this  continent,  and  so  bene- 
ficial to  the  wild  Indians,  wherever  missions 
were  established  among  them,  never  reached 
the  wretched  aborigines  of  the  Sacramento 
country.  The  valley  of  the  Sacramento  had 
not  yet  become  the  pathway  of  emigrants  from 
the  East,  and  no  civilized  human  being  lived  in 
this  primitive  and  solitary  region,  or  roamed 
over  it,  if  we  except  a  few  trappers  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company. 

Every  human  heart  has  its  own  secret  his- 
tory, None  but  the  true  pioneer — the  loyal 
sympathizer  with  Nature — can  conceive  what 
Captain  Sutter  saw  inviting  at  that  time  in  this 
remote  and  secluded  spot,  or  what  was  his  lead- 
ing motive  in  locating  there  to  establish,  it 
would  seem,  a  frontier  community  of  his  own. 
It  was  no  doubt  from  a  pure  love  of  this  kind 
of  life,  an  irrepressible  desire  to  lead  the  van  of 
civilization.     It  would  appear  that  even  at  this 


20  THE   EOMAJSTCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

early  period,  tlie  bright  glimmering  of  the  star 
of  empire  in  the  western  heavens  revealed 
itself  to  his  pioneer  spirit,  which,  catching  the 
inspiration,  impelled  liiiii  on  and  on  toward  the 
setting  sun,  until  he  reached  the  utmost  confines 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  where  he  cast  his 
lot,  to  prepare  the  way  for  and  await  civiliza- 
tion. Its  first  footsteps  had  not  been  seen  or 
heard  when  Sutter  located  there.  Years  passed, 
and  a  few  came  stealing  over  the  border ;  then 
more ;  then  a  firm,  solid  tramp  of  masses  was 
heard ;  and  then  rushed  headlong  a  human 
deluge,  that  overwhelmed  our  bold  pioneer, 
and  it  may  be  said  that  lie  lias  been  whirling 
in  its  vortex  ever  since. 

Bom  and  reared  in  the  atmosphere  of  roy- 
alty and  refined  society  in  Europe,  with  a  lib- 
eral military  education,  gentle  and  polished 
manners,  and  of  unbounded  liberality  of  heart, 
we  find  Captain  Sutter  successfully  planting 
his  little  colony  in  the  secluded  and  hostile 
Sacramento  valley. 

At  first  this  little  colony  encountered  serious 
difficulties  with  the  Indians,  and  the  increase 
of  the  settlement  was  slow.     The  tide  of  Anier- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       21 

ican  emigration  was  entirely  to  Oregon,  from 
■whence  a  few  stragglers  occasionally  found  their 
Avay  to  Sutter's  colon}'.  In  the  fall  of  1839 
there  was  an  accession  of  eight  white  men, 
and  in  August ,  1840,  five  of  those  who  liad 
crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  Sutter,  and 
whom  he  had  left  in  Oregon,  joined  him. 
During  the  fall  of  this  year  the  Mokelumne 
Indians,  with  other  tribes,  became  so  trouble- 
some that  Sutter  and  his  little  band  waged  open 
warfare  against  them,  and,  after  a  severe  but 
short  campaign,  they  were  beaten  on  every  side 
and  forced  to  keep  the  peace.  Other  bands  of 
Indians  organized  many  secret  expeditions  to 
destroy  the  colony,  but  by  force  and  strict  vigi- 
lance these  machinations  were  finally  frustra- 
ted, and  Sutter  soon  conquered  the  entire  Sa- 
cramento and  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley, 
bringing  into  willing  subjection  many  of  those 
who  had  been  his  fiercest  enemies.  In  due 
time  he  taught  them  a  certain  degree  of  civili- 
zation, lie  established  a  police  among  them- 
selves ;  of  some  he  formed  a  body  of  uniformed 
soldiers,  and  many  of  these  l)ecame  good  artil- 
lerists and  riflemen.     Others  were  required  to 


22  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

learn  several  of  the  mechanical  trades,  and  a 
large  number  were  made  to  cultivate  the  soil, 
herd  cattle,  etc.,  etc.  In  due  time  they  built 
what  afterward  became  famous  as  Sutter's  Fort. 
Several  cannon  were  mounted,  and  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  small-arms  and  amnmnition  was 
acquired.  In  the  subsequent  military  history 
of  Upper  California,  Sutter  and  his  Indians  be- 
came a  power  in  the  land. 

In  course  of  time,  progress  and  prosperity 
attended  the  colony.  Sutter  sent  hides  to  Yerba 
Buena,  furnished  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
and  wandering  trappers  with  supplies,  receiv- 
ing in  exchange  their  fui*s.  Emigrants  who 
sought  work  were  emploj^ed  as  mechanics  or 
tillers  of  the  soil. 

In  June,  1841,  Sutter  visited  Monterey,  the 
capital  of  the  province,  where  he  was  declared 
a  Mexican  citizen,  and  received  from  Governor 
Alvarado  a  grant  of  the  land  upon  which  he  had 
located — eleven  leagues — under  the  title  of 
"  New  Helvetia."  Alvarado  also  gave  him  a 
commission  as  the  representante  del  gdbierno  en 
las  fronteras  del  norte^  y  encargado  de  lajusti- 
cia. 


V  T  r  K  i:    s     |-  ()  i:  r  . 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA.       23 

Returning  to  his  colony,  Sutter  was  shortly 
after  visited  by  Captain  Ringgold,  of  tlie  United 
States  Exj)loring  Expedition,  under  Commander 
Wilkes.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Alexander 
Rotchoff,  Governor  of  the  Russian  Possessions, 
known  as  "  Ross  &  Bodega,"  situated  on  the 
coast  near  the  entrance  of  San  Francisco  Bay, 
visited  Sutter  and  offered  to  sell  liim  all  those 
possessions.  The  negotiation  was  finally  con- 
cluded, and  Sutter  came  into  possession  of  all 
the  real  and  personal  property,  in  the  latter  of 
which  were  two  thousand  cattle,  one  thousand 
horses,  fifty  mules,  and  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred sheep.  This  increase  of  Sutter's  resources, 
together  with  the  natural  increase  of  his  stock 
and  other  property  at  New  Helvetia,  enabled 
liim  the  more  rapidly  to  advance  his  settlement 
and  improvements. 

In  the  year  1844:  Sutter  petitioned  Governor 
Manuel  Micheltorena  for  the  grant  or  purchase 
of  the  sohrante^  or  surplus  over  the  first  eleven 
leagues  of  the  land  within  the  bounds  of  the 
survey  accompanying  the  Alvarado  grant.  In 
February,  1845,  Micheltorena  complied  with  Sut- 
ter's petition,  partly  on  account  of  military  ser- 


24  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OE, 

vices  rendered  the  State  in  suppressing  tlie  Cas- 
tro rebellion. 

About  this  period,  (1844)  small  bodies  of  em- 
igrants began  to  find  their  way  to  California 
direct  from  the  States,  striking  Sutter's  Fort, 
the  first  settlement  after  crossing  the  mountains. 
Year  by  year  these  emigrants  increased  in  num- 
bers, till  the  discovery  of  gold,  when  tlicy  were 
counted  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands. 

It  is  here  that  the  value  of  Sutter's  settle- 
ment, and  the  generous  qualities  of  the  man, 
became  strikingly  apparent.  No  weary,  travel- 
worn  and  destitute  emigrant  ever  reached  Sut- 
ter's Tort,  who  was  not  supplied  with  every 
necessary,  and  sent  on  his  way  rejoicing.  The 
cry  of  distress  never  came  over  the  mountains 
from  any  party  of  emigrants,  however  large, 
but  what  it  received  the  immediate  attention 
of  the  noble-hearted  Sutter.  Cattle,  in  droves, 
with  the  necessary  number  of  horses  and  In- 
dians, were  at  once  dispatched  to  supply  the 
broken-down,  starving  emigrants,  and  bring 
them  safely  in. 

The  following  incident  Mas  related  to  me  by 
Sutter.     It  exhibits  something  of  the  terrible 


THE   DISCOVEKY    OF   GOLD    IN   CALIFORNIA.       25 

hardships   to  which   emigrants  to   the   Pacific 
shores  were  then  exposed. 

A  solitary  emigrant  was  just  able  to  reach  Sut- 
ter's Fort,  and  report  his  companions  some  dis- 
tance hack  in  the  desert  country,  dying  of  starva- 
tion. Sutter  immediately  caused  a  number  of 
his  best  mules  to  be  packed  with  supplies,  and 
dispatched  under  the  guidance  of  the  messenger 
and  two  Indians.  Tliey  arrived  among  the 
starving  emigrants  in  time  to  save  most  of  them, 
but  just  as  they  were  about  to  move  forward, 
another  party  of  famishing  emigrants  unex- 
pectedly arrived.  In  their  frenzy  they  seized 
upon  all  that  remained  of  the  supplies  sent  by 
Sutter,  killed  his  mules  and  ate  them ;  then 
they  killed  the  two  Indians  and  ate  them.  Said 
Sutter  with  much  feeling:  "They  eat  my  fine 
Indians  all  up."  After  eating  numbers  of  their 
companions  as  they  fell  exhausted  and  lifeless, 
the  remaining  portion  of  these  wretched  emi- 
grants finally  arrived  at  Sutter's  Fort,  where 
they  were  supplied  with  all  the  necessaries  of 
life,  and  maintained  until  their  health  and 
strength  were  restored.  Year  after  year  Sutter 
exercised  this  munificent  liberality  and  Ivind- 


26  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

ness,  never  looking  for  or   accepting  any  re- 
ward. 


REMARKABLE   COMBINATION^   OF  EVENTS  AT- 
TENDING TPiE  disco\t:ry  of  gold. 

We  will  now  leave  Sutter  in  liis  adventurous, 
prosperous  career,  to  set  forth  tliat  remarkable 
combination  of  events  preceding  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  and  which  has  a  very  ini- 
portant  bearing  on  the  realization  of  the  fact 
itself. 

Mankind,  under  the  influence  of  supersti 
tious  vagaries,  are  prone  to  attribute  remarkable 
coincidences  and  occurrences  they  do  not  com- 
prehend to  a  supernatural  agency.  In  the 
present  instance  it  would  add  so  much  to  the 
piquancy  and  romantic  interest  of  the  history, 
by  casting  upon  it  the  fitful  glimmer  of  super- 
naturalism,  that  the  historian  is  sorely  tempted 
to  be  less  clear  in  his  explanation  of  the  natural 
causes  of  the  events  chronicled. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  precise 
working  of  events  in  cycles,  all  tending  with 
nndeviating  precision  to  the  discovery  of  gold 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF   GOLD   LN    CALIFORXIA.       27 

in  California,  and  the  rapid  development  of  its 
results,  is  remarkable  and  in  the  highest  degree 
interesting.  The  superstitious  would  charac- 
terize this — to  use  the  mild  term  of  the  age — 
as  a  special  providence,  which  means  that  Na- 
ture will  go  out  of  her  way  in  all  things,  from 
serving  an  old  ladj  with  a  cup  of  tea,  to  the 
creation  or  destruction  of  an  empire. 

This  superstitious  belief  drags  God  and  His 
laws  down  to  the  fallible  standard  of  sinful  man. 
It  affords  the  excuse  for  ten  great  crimes  where 
it  incites  to  one  small  virtue.  It  underlies  all 
the  prevailing  systems  of  religion,  and  it  en- 
genders the  several  degrees  of  fanaticism  alike 
in  Thug,  Dervish,  Jesuit,  and  Puritan  ;  and  so 
long  as  it  rules  the  world  as  at  present,  the  pure 
and  simple  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  can  never 
attain. 

Omnipotent  Power,  in  administering  the 
whole  law,  which  is  the  law  of  progressive 
good,  cannot  deviate  to  the  right  hand  or  to 
the  left.  This  makes  providences  general,  and 
not  special,  as  applied  by  tlie  superstitious 
masses. 

At  the  time  gold  was  discovered  in  Califor- 


28  THE    ROMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OE, 

nia,  that  country  was  practically  a  terra  incog- 
nita to  the  whole  world.  It  must  be  said, 
however,  that  the  hour  had  come.  Events  were 
big  in  the  womb  of  time.  The  greedy  eye  of 
the  commercial  world  was  beginning  to  turn 
toward  that  fair  land.  Ocean  steam-navigation 
and  the  electric  telegraph  had  just  become  es- 
tablished successes,  and  there  was  that  natural 
tendency  to  explore  for  new  fields  which  in- 
creased populations  and  augmented  facilities  of 
great  importance  and  variety  would  naturally 
induce,  particularly  in  the  American  and  Eng- 
lish nations. 

Subsequent  to  1844,  the  tendency  of  events 
in  California  was  such  as  to  render  the  posses- 
sion of  that  territory  a  political  necessity  to  the 
United  States.  Our  omnipresent  rival,  Eng- 
land, was  looking  to  that  coast  with  wistful 
eyes.  It  was  known  that  Mexico  was  about  to 
give  one  McNamara,  an  Irish  Catholic  priest, 
immense  land  grants,  such  as  would  include  the 
best  portions  of  Upper  California ;  and  these 
land  grants  McNamara  had  stipulated  to  place 
under  a  British  ])rotectorate. 

At  this  period  (1844)  there  were  located  in 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOKXIA.       29 

California  but  few  Americans.  Those  most 
prominent  were  Thomas  O.  Larkin,  in  Monterey ; 
Leese,  Spear  &  Hinckley,  in  Yerba  Buena ; 
George  Yount,  in  Sonoma ;  and  Bidwell,  Read- 
ing &  Hensly,  in  other  parts  of  the  territory. 
But  now  others  came  stra[;-gling  into  the  coun- 
try from  Oregon  and  from  over  the  Sierra 
Kevada,  while  others  landed  on  the  coast. 
Early  in  1846,  the  Americans  in  California 
numbered  about  200,  mostly  able-bodied  men, 
and  who  in  their  activity,  enterprise,  and  au- 
dacity, constituted  quite  a  formidable  element 
in  this  sparsely  inhabited  region.  The  popu- 
lation of  California  at  this  time  was  6,000  Mexi- 
cans and  200,000  Indians. 


ATTEMPT  OF  THE  AMERICANS  TO  ACQUIRE 
CALIFORNIA.— THE  BEAR  FLAG. 

"We  now  come  to  a  period  in  the  history  of 
California  that  has  never  been  made  clear,  and 
respecting  which  there  are  conflicting  state- 
ments and  opinions.  The  following  facts  were 
obtained  by  careful  inquiry  of  intelligent  parties 
who  lived  in  California  during  the  period  men- 


30  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OK, 

tioned,  and  who  participated  iu  the  scenes  nar- 
rated. 

Tlie  native  Californians  appear  to  Lave 
entertained  no  very  strong  affection  for  their 
own  government,  or  ratlier,  tliey  felt  that  under 
the  influences  at  work  they  would  inevitably, 
and  at  no  distant  period,  become  a  dismembered 
branch  of  the  Mexican  nation  ;  and  the  matter 
was  finally  narrowed  down  to  tliis  contested 
point,  namely,  whether  this  state  surgery  should 
be  performed  by  Americans  or  English,  the  real 
struggle  being  between  these  two  nationalities. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  territory,  such 
native  Californians  as  the  Yallejos,  Castros, 
etc.,  with  the  old  American  settlers,  Leese,  Lar- 
kin,  and  others,  sympathized  with  the  United 
States,  and  desired  annexation  to  the  American 
republic.  In  the  south,  Pio  Pico,  then  governor 
of  the  territory,  and  other  prominent  native 
Californians,  with  James  Alexander  Forbes,  the 
Endish  consul,  who  settled  in  Santa  Clara  in 
1828,  were  exerting  tliemselves  to  bring  the 
country  under  English  domination  by  means  of 
tiie  McN'amara  papers,  or  other  pretexts. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  for  two  or  three 


THE   DISCOVEEY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       31 

years  previous  to  the  Mexican  "War.  For  some 
months  before  the  news  that  hostilities  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico  had  commenced 
reached  California,  the  belief  that  such  an  event 
would  certainly  occur,  was  universal  throughout 
the  territory.  This  quickened  the  impulses  of 
all  parties,  and  stimulated  the  two  rivals — the 
American  and  English — in  their  efforts  to  be 
the  first  to  obtain  a  permanent  hold  of  the 
country. 

The  United  States  Government  had  sent 
Colonel  Fremont  to  the  Pacific  on  an  explor- 
ing expedition.  Colonel  Fremont  had  passed 
through  California,  and  was  on  his  way  to  Ore- 
gon, when,  in  March,  184G,  Lieutenant  Gilles- 
pie, of  the  United  States  marine  service,  was 
sent  from  "Washington  with  dispatches  to  Colo- 
nel Fremont.  Lieutenant  Gillespie  went  across 
Mexico  to  Mazatlan,  and  from  thence  by  sea  to 
California.  He  finally  overtook  Fremont  early 
in  June,  1SA6,  a  short  distance  on  the  road  to 
Oregon,  and  communicated  to  him  tlie  purport 
of  his  dispatches,  they  having  been  committed 
to  memory  and  the  papers  destroyed  before  he 
entered  Mexico.     What  these  instructions  au- 


32  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

thon'zed  Colonel  Fremont  to  do  has  never  been 
promulgated,  but  it  is  said  tbey  directed  him  to 
remain  in  California,  and  hold  himself  in  readi- 
ness to  co()perate  with  the  United  States  fleet, 
in  case  war  with  Mexico  should  occur. 

Fremont  immediately  returned  to  Califor- 
nia, and  camped  a  short  time  on  Feather  River, 
and  then  took  up  his  headquarters  at  Sutter's 
Fort.  A  few  days  after,  on  Sunday,  Juno 
14tli,  184G,  a  party  of  fourteen  Americans,  un- 
der no  apparent  command,  appeared  in  Sonoma, 
ca]3tured  the  place,  raised  the  Eear  flag,  pro- 
claimed the  independence  of  California,  and 
carried  oif  to  Fremont's  quarters  as  prisoners 
four  prominent  citizens,  namely,  the  two  Valle- 
jos,  J.  P.  Leese,  and  Colonel  Prudhon.  On 
tlie  consummation  of  these  achievements,  one 
Merritt  was  elected  captain. 

This  was  a  rough  party  of  revolutionists, 
and  the  manner  in  which  they  improvised  the 
famous  Bear  flag,  shows  u^^on  what  slender 
means  nations  and  kingdoms  are  sometimes 
started.  From  an  estimable  old  lady  they  ob- 
tained a  fragmentary  portion  of  her  white  skirt, 
on  which  they  painted  what  was  intended  to 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOKNIA.       33 

represent  a  grizzly  bear,  but  not  being  artistic 
in  their  work,  it  was  difficult  to  determine  wliat 
kind  of  an  animal  they  had  selected  as  the  em- 
blem of  the  new  nationality ;  so  the  Mexicans, 
with  their  usual  happy  faculty  on  such  occa- 
sions, called  it  the  "  Bandera  Colchis^''  or  "  Hog 
Flag."  This  flag  now  ornaments  the  rooms  of 
tlie  Pioneer  Society  in  San  Francisco. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1846,  William  B.  Ide, 
a  native  of  New  England,  who  had  emigrated 
to  California  the  year  previous,  issued  a  procla- 
mation as  commander-in-chief  of  the  fortress 
of  Sonoma.  This  proclamation  declared  the 
purpose  to  overthrow  the  existing  government, 
and  establish  in  its  place  the  republican  form. 
The  proclamation  particularly  requested  the 
people  to  remain  at  peace,  and  follow  their 
usual  occupations,  while  the  change  that  w^as  to 
bring  every  imaginable  blessing  to  the  country 
took  place. 

General  Castro  now  proposed  to  attack  the 
feebly-manned  post  at  Sonoma,  but  he  was  frus- 
trated by  a  rapid  movement  of  Fremont,  who, 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1846,  called  a  meeting  of 
Americans  at  Sonoma  ;  and   this  assembly,  act- 


34  TETE   EOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE  ;    OK, 

ing  under  bis  advice,  proclaimed  the  independ- 
ence of  the  country,  appointed  Fremont  Gov- 
ernor, and  declared  war  against  Mexico. 

During  these  proceedings  at  Sonoma,  a  flag 
with  one  star  floated  over  the  headquarters  of 
Fremont  at  Sutter's  Fort.  The  meaning  of  this 
lone-star  flag  no  one  seems  to  have  understood, 
nor,  in  fact,  does  it  appear  to  be  known  to  this 
day  precisely  what  end  the  several  parties  en- 
gaged in  these  military  movements  (under  the 
direction,  it  was  supposed,  of  Fremont)  had  in 
view.  The  people  of  Northern  California  ap- 
peared at  first  to  take  no  very  decided  stand 
against  the  raising  of  the  Bear  flag,  and  the 
proclamation  of  the  independence  of  California. 
They  were  very  much  incensed,  however,  by 
the  captm'e  and  imprisonment  of  four  of  their 
most  prominent  citizens;  and  they  allege  that 
when  Colonel  Fremont  appeared  in  the  country 
and  took  a  leading  part,  his  course  was  so  indis- 
creet as  to  create  an  antagonism  to  American 
interests,  and  provoke  the  warlike  opposition 
wliich  subsequently  manifested  itself  among  the 
native  inhabitants,  when  otherwise  there  would 
have  been  only  iriendship. 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFOKNIA.       35 

This  allegation  would  appear  to  be  sustained 
from  tlie  fact  that  Governor  Pio  Pico,  the  liead. 
of  the  an ti- American  party  in  Soutliern  Cali- 
fornia, speedily  and  adroitly  seized,  upon  the 
act  of  the  Americans  in  capturing  Sonoma,  to 
inflame  the  minds  of  the  people  against  for- 
eigners of  the  United  States  of  America,  as 
appears  by  the  following  extract  from  a  com- 
munication addressed  by  Governor  Pico  to 
Thomas  O.  Larkin,  Esq.,  United  States  consul, 
and  dated  Santa  Barbara,  June  29,  1840 : 

"  The  undersigned,  constitutional  Governor 
of  the  Department  of  the  Californias,  has  the 
deep  mortification  to  make  known  to  Mr. 
Thomas  O.  Larkin,  consul  of  the  United  States 
of  North  America,  that  he  has  been  greatly 
surprised  in  being  notified  by  official  communi- 
cations of  the  general  commandancia  of  this 
Department,  and  the  prefectura  of  the  second 
district,  that  a  multitude  of  foreigners  of  the 
United  States  of  America  have  invaded  that 
frontier,  taken  possession  of  the  fortified  town 
of  Sonoma,  treacherously  making  prisoners  of 
the  military  commandante,  Don  Mariano  G. 
Vallejo,  Lieut.-Coloncl  Victor  Prudhon,  Captain 


3G  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OE, 

Salvador  Vallejo,  and  Mr.  Jacob  P.  Leese ;  and 
likewise  have  stolen  the  property  of  these  indi- 
viduals. 

"  The  undersigned  can  do  no  less  than  make 
known  to  the  consul  of  the  United  States  that 
acts  so  alarming  have  caused  very  great  grief. 

"  Until  the  present  the  department  govern- 
or is  wanting  the  least  positive  info]*mation 
that  would  give  him  to  understand  of  a  decla- 
ration of  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  ;  and,  without  such  information,  he 
judges  the  course  pursued  at  Sonoma  the  most 
atrocious  and  infamous  that  can  be  imagined, 
so  much  so  that  the  like  is  not  seen  among 
barbarians." 

It  was  believed  by  many  in  California  that 
those  directing  the  movements  of  the  Bear-flag 
party  intended  to  establish  an  independent 
republic. 

I  simply  state  these  historical  facts,  without 
entenng  into  further  details,  or  g,iving  any  opin- 
ion as  to  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  which 
at  one  time  was  carried  on  with  great  bitterness. 
It  may  be  that  the  action  of  the  censured  i)arty 
was  dictated  by  a  desire  to  secure  the  country 


TIIE   DISCOVERT   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA,       37 

to  the  United  States  before  England  could  raise 
any  claim. 


>TnE   MEXICAN  WAR.— THE   AMERICANS   TAKE 
POSSESSION  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Pending  these  movements,  and  just  as  Fre- 
mont, with  his  company,  had  started  for  the 
coast  to  confront  Castro,  and  act  on  the  aggres- 
sive generally,  he  was  suddenly  brought  to  a  stand 
by  the  astounding  intelligence  that  Commodore 
Sloat  had  arrived  at  Monterey,  and  that  on  the 
7th  of  July,  1846,  he  had  raised  the  American 
flag  and  taken  possession  of  the  place  ;  also, 
that,  by  command  of  Commodore  Sloat,  Com- 
mander Montgomery,  of  the  United  States  sloop- 
of-war  Portsmouth,  then  lying  in  San  Francisco 
Bay,  had,  on  the  8th  of  July,  taken  possession 
of  Yerba  Buena,  and  raised  the  American  flag 
on  the  plaza.  This  of  course  settled  the  busi- 
ness for  all  parties.  The  Mexican  flag  and  the 
Bear  flag  were  lowered,  and  in  due  time,  nolens 
volens,  all  acquiesced  in  the  flying  of  the  Stars 
and  Stripes. 

The  accounts,  even  among  Californians,  re- 


215413 


38  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

specting  the  date  on  wliicli  the  American  flag 
■was  raised  at  Monterey,  the  circnmstances  at- 
tending this  important  event,  and  the  degree 
of  responsibih'ty  assnmed  by  Commodore  Sloat, 
are  somewhat  conflicting. 

By  the  kindness  of  L,  "W.  Sloat,  Jr.,  Esq., 
■wlio  was  on  board  the  Savannah,  commanded 
by  his  father,  I  liave  been  fm-nished  with  the 
following  extracts  from  the  ship's  log  : 

"  U.  S.  Frigate  Savannah,  Commodore.  Sloat.  } 

Mazatlan,  Mexico,  May  31, 1846.  f 

"  Received  report  of  General  Taj'lor's  victory  over 
the  Mexicans  on  the  8tli  and  9th  of  May,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  llio  Bravo. 

"  June  5th.  News  of  General  Taylor's  victories  con- 
firmed— of  his  taking  possession  of  Matamoras  the  18tli 
of  May,  received. 

"June  7th.  Lieutenant  Trapin  performed  divine 
service.  News  received  of  the  blockade  of  Vera  Cruz 
))y  the  American  squadron.  At  2  p.  m.  got  under  way 
for  Monterey,  California. 

"July  1st.  Stood  into  the  harbor  of  Monterey,  and 
came  to  anchor  at  4  p.  m.  in  front  of  the  town,  about 
one-quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  fort,  which  bore  by  com- 
pass N.  W.  The  captain  of  the  port,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Iluriwcll,  attached  to  the  Custom-House,  called. 
Cyane  and  Levant  in  port. 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOKNlA.       39 

"July  2d.  Thomas  O.  Larkin,  Esq.,  United  States 
consul,  made  a  long  call,  and  on  leaving  was  saluted 
Avith  nine  guns. 

"July  od.  Called  ujion  tlie  authorities. 

"July  4th.  Ship  dressed  and  salutes  fired. 

"July  5th.  Lieutenant  Trapin  performed  divine 
service. 

"July  Gth.  Mr.  Larkin  sj^ent  the  day  on  board  pre- 
paring proclamations,  etc.,  for  taking  possession  of 
California  to-morrow. 

"  July  7th.  Seven  a.  m.,  landing  forces.  Took  jdos- 
scssion  ;  hoisted  flag. 

"  July  loth.  United  States  frigate  Congress,  Commo- 
dore Stockton,  arrived  from  Honolulu.  Whilst  in  the 
offing,  saluted  the  flag  with  thirteen  guns,  which  was 
returned.  R.  M.  Price  and  Dr.  Gilchrist  appointed 
alcaldes  of  Monterey. 

"  July  27th.  Gave  up  the  command  of  the  squadron 
to  Commodore  Stockton  to-day,  and  turned  over  to  him 
the  papers  aiipcrtainiug  thereto. 

"July  29th.  Sailed  in  Levant  for  Mazatlan  and 
Panama," 

These  extracts  from  Commodore  Sloat's  log 
settle  all  questions  as  to  dates,  and  thej  prove 
the  fact  that,  though  the  commodore  had  heard 
of  the  commencement  of  hostilities  on  the  Rio 
Grande,  he  sailed  from  Mazatlan  for  California, 


40  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

took  possession  of  the  country,  and  raised  the 
American  flag  on  his  own  responsibility. 

These  decisive  steps  on  the  part  of  Commo- 
dore Sloat  were  not  taken  a  moment  too  soon, 
as  on  the  14th  of  Jnly  the  British  man-of-war 
Collingwood,  Sir  George  Seymour  command- 
ing, arrived  at  Monterey,  and,  to  his  utter 
amazement,  he  saw  the  American  flag  flying 
from  the  Mexican  fort,  and  tlie  town  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Americans. 

Sir  Goorge  Seymour  informed  Commodore 
Sloat  that  he  could  salute  his  ship,  but  he  could 
not  salute  the  American  flag  ashore,  for  he  had 
come  to  do  the  same  thing;  that  is,  he  had 
come  to  take  possession  of  that  jjortion  of  the 
country  and  raise  the  English  flag.  This  was 
to  have  been  done  on  the  strength  of  the  McNa- 
mara  papers,  which  the  English  commander 
believed  had  been  executed  and  delivered.  It 
is  said  these  papers  subsequently  fell  into  the 
hands  of  one  of  the  United  States  army  officers 
in  Southern  California. 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       41 

f      CALIFORNIA  CONQUERED. 

Commodore  Stockton,  on  assuming  command 
of  the  squadron,  immediately  instituted  bold 
and  vigorous  measures  for  the  subjugation  of  the 
territorj.  All  his  available  force  for  land  oper- 
ations Avas  three  hundred  and  fifty  men — sailors 
and  marines.  But  so  rapid  and  skilful  were 
Stockton's  movements,  and  so  efiicient  was  the 
cooperation  of  Fremont  with  his  small  troop, 
that  California  was  efiectuallj  conquered  in 
January,  1847. 

During  all  this  period  the  people  of  the 
United  States  were  ignorant  of  what  was  trans- 
piring in  California,  and  vice  versa.  But  the 
action  of  Commodore  Sloat  in  raising  the 
American  flag  in  California,  and  that  of  Com- 
modore Stockton  in  conquering  the  territory, 
did  but  anticipate  the  wishes  of  the  United 
States  Government,  which  had  in  June,  1840, 
dispatched  General  Kearney  across  the  country 
from  Fort  Leavenworth,  at  the  head  of  sixteen 
hundred  men,  with  orders  to  conquer  California, 
and  when  conquered,  to  assume  the  governor- 
ship of  the  territory.     General  Kearney  arrived 


4:2  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

in  California  via  San  Pasqual  with  greatly  di- 
minished forces,  December,  1846,  a  few  weeks 
before  active  military  operations  in  that  region 
ceased. 

The  United  States  Government  had  also 
dispatched  a  regiment  of  volunteers  from  New 
York  via  Cape  Horn,  under  Colonel  J.  D.  Ste- 
venson, September,  1846.  This  regiment  ar- 
rived in  San  Francisco,  March,  1847,  and  in 
detached  bodies  it  performed  garrison  duty 
throughout  the  conquered  territory,  until  peace 
was  declared. 

THE    MORMONS. 

Tlie  Mormon  movement  should  here  be  ex- 
plained, as  furnishing  a  singular  coincidence  in 
connection  with  affairs  in  California  at  this  pe- 
riod, not  omitting  the  serio-comic  end  of  Mor- 
mon hopes  brought  about  by  the  war  with 
Mexico. 

The  exodus  of  the  Mormons  from  Nauvoo 
took  place  in  the  early  part  of  1846.  It  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  this  singular  people  had 
become  so  obnoxious  in  the  West,  that  their 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFOKNIA.      43 

presence  in  any  great  numbers  was  not  tolera- 
ted. In  February,  1846,  sixteen  hundred  men, 
women,  and  children,  constituting  the  main 
body  of  the  sect  inhabiting  Nauvoo  City,  started 
with  their  movable  effects  for  the  Pacific,  sha- 
king the  dust  from  their  feet,  and  hurling  anath- 
emas loud  and  deep  against  the  people  and  in- 
stitutions of  the  United  States.  Those  who 
remained  in  IS^auvoo  were  soon  forced  to  follow 
the  main  body,  and  the  city  with  its  temple 
finally  became  a  heap  of  ruins.  The  destina- 
tion of  the  polygamists  was  California,  some 
part  of  which  territory,  especially  that  border- 
ing on  San  Francisco  Bay,  they  proposed  to 
acquire  from  Mexico. 

Simultaneously  with  the  movement  of  the 
main  body  of  the  Mormons  from  ^auvoo  City, 
some  two  hundred  of  the  sect,  including  several 
of  their  prominent  leaders,  purchased  the  ship 
Brooklyn,  and  sailed  from  Xew  York,  January, 
1846,  for  San  Francisco  Bay,  where  they  ar- 
rived July  31st,  but  twenty-three  days  after 
Commander  Montgomery  had  taken  possession 
of  the  place  and  raised  the  American  flag. 

It  was  a  fine,  brilliant  California  day,  that 


44  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE  ;    OE, 

on  wliicli  tlie  Moniion-freighted  sliip  Brooklyn 
passed  tbrougli  tlie  Golden  Gate  and  entered 
San  Francisco  Bay.  The  long-wished-for  haven 
was  gained  at  last.  AYliat  a  magnificent  har- 
bor !  "Wliat  a  fine  country  !  And  all  that  vir- 
gin territory  awaiting  in  silence  and  peace  the 
coming  of  the  latter-day  saints.  These,  as  may 
be  imagined,  weary  of  their  long  and  tedious 
voyage,  were  eager  to  set  foot  on  the  promised 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  where,  free 
from  persecution,  like  the  Pilgrims  of  old,  they 
could  worship  God  after  their  own  fashion,  and 
M'here  polygamous  institutions  were  to  rise  in 
all  their  loveliness,  beauty,  and  grandeur. 

The  Brooklyn  sailed  majestically  into  the 
bay,  her  decks  crowded  with  impatient  human 
beings,  when,  on  coming  opposite  the  town,  one 
of  the  leaders  was  observed  to  shade  his  eyes 
and  gaze  anxiously  ashore.  Suddenly  his  coun- 
tenance became  ghastly,  and,  pointing  to  our 
national  emblem,  which  floated  over  the  ])laza 
in  all  its  beauty  and  glury,  he  exclaimed,  "  By 
God!  there  is  that  damned  American  flag  ! ''"' 

These  Mormons  had  left  the  United  States 
several  months  before  the  commencement  of  the 


THE   DISCOVEEY   OF    GOLD   EST   CALIFOENIA,       45 

war  with  Mexico,  and  the  sight  of  our  flag 
floating  over  the  plaza  of  Yerba  Biiena  was  the 
first  intimation  they  had  of  that  event  and  its 
consequences.  An  express  was  immediately 
sent  off  to  meet  the  main  body  of  Mormons 
coming  overland.  This  Mormon  host  bad  pur- 
sued their  toilsome  march  westward  to  the  20th 
July,  1846,  when,  from  the  "Wasatch  Moun- 
tains, they  beheld  the  placid  waters  of  Salt 
Lake,  gilded  by  the  beams  of  the  setting  sun. 
On  the  24th,  just  one  week  previous  to  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Brooklyn  in  San  Francisco  Bay, 
the  entire  body  of  Mormons,  with  the  High 
Council  and  the  President,  reached  the  valley 
and  camped  to  recruit  their  exliausted  strength. 
Here  they  were  met  by  the  express  from  the 
Brooklyn,  with  the  astounding  intelligence  that 
the  Americans  had.  taken  possession  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  that  the  project  of  finding  a  resting- 
place  on  the  Pacific  shore  must  be  abandoned. 
After  a  brief  deliberation,  they  determined  to 
remain  where  they  were.  This  conclusion  was 
the  more  readily  reached,  as  the  land  was  good, 
and  the  isolated  location  offered  great  advan- 
tages.    Planting  commenced  immediately,  and 


46  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

measures  were  at  once  taken  to  build  their  seat 
of  empire,  now  known  as  Salt  Lake  City.  This 
explains  the  settlement  of  the  Mormons  in 
Utah. 

But  this  people  did  not  long  remain  unmo- 
lested in  their  new  locality,  for  they  were  speed- 
ily called  upon  and  compelled  by  the  United 
States  Government  to  furnish  a  battalion  to 
serve  in  California.  Under  officers  of  the 
United  States  Army,  this  battalion  was  marched 
forthwith  to  that  territory,  aud  it  must  be  said 
that  it  performed  good  and  faithful  service  until 
the  end  of  the  war. 

The  Brooklyn  party,  disappointed  and  dis- 
pirited, soon  quarrelled  among  themselves,  and 
finally  dispersed.  Some  remained  in  Yerba 
Biiena,  while  others  settled  in  the  Sacramento 
Yalley,  and  yet  a  company  of  others  went  to 
San  Bernardino,  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
State,  and  there  formed  a  settlement. 

Several  of  these  prominent  Mormons  who 
had  come  so  far  to  get  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
American  flag,  and  who  remained  in  California, 
eschewed  Mormonism,  contented  themselves 
with   the    dual    blessedness   of   the    Gentiles, 


THE   DISCOVEliY    OF   GOLD   IN    CALITOKNIA.      47 

amassed  wealth,  and  became  good  and  influen- 
tial citizens.  When  tlie  great  rebellion  broke 
out,  instances  of  boisterous  loyaltj  among  them 
occurred,  and  it  was  refreshing  to  behold  the 
intense  affection  they  manifested  for  the  old 
flag,  and  their  liberal  contributions  to  sustain 
its  glorj.  Tims  runs  the  world.  Circum- 
stances alter  cases.  We  may  live  to  see  the 
day  when  those  same  parties  will  deem  it  expe- 
dient to  curse  the  American  flag  as  heartily  as 
ever. 


•  THE    EIs^D  OF  THE    MEXICAN  WAE.— ACQUISI- 
TIOIT  OF   CALIFOEi^IA. 

The  arrival  of  the  several  military  bodies 
that  have  been  mentioned,  of  the  Mormons  and 
other  emigrants  who  found  their  way  over  the 
Snowy  Mountains  and  from  Oregon,  considera- 
bly augmented  the  white  population  of  Cali- 
fornia in  the  years  184:6-'47.  The  number  of 
white  emigrants — soldiei"s  and  civilians — settled 
throughout  California  in  the  early  part  of  1848, 
when  the  gold  was  discovered,  may  be  estima- 
ted at  two  thousand.     While  active  hostilities 


4:8  THE    ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

continued  in  Central  Mexico,  peace  and  order, 
under  American  rule,  were  maintained  through- 
out California. 

It  Avill  be  perceived  that  the  Mexican  War 
had  an  immediate  and  direct  effect  on  the  des- 
tiny of  California — more  so,  perhaps,  than  on 
that  of  any  other  portion  of  Mexican  territory ; 
and  it  precipitated  the  development  of  the  great 
wealth  discovered  at  that  period.  The  war 
commenced  in  April,  1846,  and  terminated  by 
a  treaty  of  peace  in  which,  for  a  trilling  consid- 
eration, we  came  into  quiet  possession  of  the  en- 
tire territory,  with  New  Mexico,  February  2, 
1848,  the  very  day  on  which  gold  was  discov- 
ered in  California ! 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF  THE  rACIFIO  MAIL  LINE 
OF  STEAMERS. 

There  is  still  another  event  which  I  will 
narrate,  as  one  of  the  singular  coincidences,  and 
as  having  a  higlily  important  bearing  on  the 
rapid  development  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  namely,  the  establishment  of  the 
Pacific  mail  line  of  steamers,  in  connection  with 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       49 

Sloe's  line  to  ]^ew  Orleans  and  Chagres. 
Mauj,  doubtless,  believe  tliat  these  lines  of 
steamers  were  called  into  existence  by  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California.  The  great  discov- 
ery had  nothing  to  do  with  originating  these 
enterprises. 

The  idea  of  an  American  line  of  mail-steam- 
ers from  Panama  np  the  Pacific  coast,  touching 
at  several  Mexican  ports  and  terminating  at 
Astoria,  Oregon,  is  said  to  have  originated  with 
one  J.  M.  Shively,  a  plain  sort  of  man,  who,  at 
an  early  day,  drifted  from  Massachusetts  or 
Connecticut,  across  the  continent,  and  finally 
located  at  Astoria,  of  which  })lace  he  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster.  Shively  returned  to  the 
United  States  in  1845,  and  when  in  Washing- 
ton, it  is  said,  he  suggested  this  line  of  steamers. 

At  this  time  the  controversy  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  respecting  the 
Northwestern  boundary,  had  become  a  very  ex- 
citing topic.  Our  Government  was  exceedingly 
anxious  to  turn  emigration  into  Oregon,  and  it 
is  possible  that  Shively's  idea  of  aline  of  steam- 
ers from  Panama  up  the  Pacific  coast,  may 
have  been  regarded  favorably  in  Washington, 


50  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

Wlietliei*  this  be  true  or  not,  President  Polk,  in 
the  latter  part  of  1845,  took  decided  measures 
to  establish  a  means  of  convej'ance  to  Oregon, 
that  should  be  available  to  emigrants.  In  fur- 
therance of  this  project,  the  President  invited 
Mr.  J.  M.  Woodward,  of  N'ew  York,  to  visit 
Washington,  and  assist  him  with  his  informa- 
tion and  counsels. 

Mr.  Woodward  was  then  engaged  in  the 
Baltic  trade,  and  he  had  frequent  and  large 
consignments  of  emigrants  from  Norway,  Swe- 
den, Denmark,  and  Prussia.  lie  at  once  com- 
plied with  the  President's  request.  After  sev- 
eral conferences  with  this  high  official,  and 
some  weeks  s})cnt  in  obtaining  all  the  informa- 
tion possible  on  the  subject,  Mr.  Woodward 
presented  the  following  plan,  namely : 

To  prepare  and  send  out  a  number  of  small 
boats,  sufficient  to  take  an  entire  shipment  of 
emigrants  and  their  baggage  from  the  vessels, 
on  their  arrival  at  Chagres,  and  proceed  uj)  the 
Chagres  Iliver  as  far  as  Cruces ;  from  thence  by 
pack-mules  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
whence  they  were  to  ejnbark  on  board  sailing 
or  steam  vessels  for  Oregon,     This  plan  was 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD    IN    CALIFOKNIA.       51 

accompanied  by  the  requisite  estimates  for  its 
acconiplislinient,  and  the  whole  was  submitted 
in  the  shape  of  a  report  to  the  President.  lie 
signiiied  his  liearty  approval  of  the  plan  pro- 
posed, and  by  his  direction,  immediate  steps 
were  taken  to  obtain  from  Congress,  then  in 
session,  the  necessary  apj^ropriation. 

Thus  the  proposed  transit  line  to  Oregon 
was  progressing  favorably  when  the  ultimatum 
of  the  British  Government  was  submitted  to  the 
President  and  Senate,  and  accepted.  This  at 
once  obviated  the  immediate  necessity  for  the 
settlement  of  Oregon,  and  as  a  Government 
matter,  the  proposed  transit  line  to  that  part  of 
the  world  was  dropped.  As  is  customary  with 
governments  on  such  occasions,  Mr.  Woodward 
was  unceremoniously  dismissed,  with  no  thanks 
for  the  time  and  money  he  had  sj^ent  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  administration. 

But  Mr.  Woodward,  in  the  course  of  his 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Government,  had  gained 
information  respecting  the  commerce  of  the 
Pacific  coast  which  induced  him  and  several 
associates  to  believe  that  a  line  of  steamers  from 
Panama   to   Oregon   would   pay   as   a  private 


52  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

enterprise,  and  lie  accordingly  gave  the  matter 
this  shape. 

At  this  time  Colonel  Sloo  was  applying  for 
a  grant  of  subsidy  to  carry  the  mail  by  steam- 
vessels  from  New  York  to  Havana  and  New 
Orleans.  E.  K.  Collins  was  also  endeavoring  to 
get  a  bill  through  Congress  authorizing  a  line 
of  mail-steamers  between  New  York  and  Liver- 
pool. 

Mr.  Woodward  framed  his  bill  to  cover  the 
Pacific  coast  route  ;  Sloo  so  changed  his  bill  as 
to  extend  his  line  to  Chagres,  in  order  to  con- 
nect with  Woodward  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien, 
and  all  the  bills,  namely,  Woodward's,  Sloo's, 
and  Collins',  were  passed  on  the  last  day  of  the 
session  of  1846-'4T.  But  either  by  oversight  or 
design,  Mr.  Woodward's  name  was  left  out  of 
the  engrossed  bill,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Mr.  Mason,  decided  tliat  he  must  advertise  for 
proposals  for  tlic  Pacific  line.  He  accordingly 
advertised  for  bids  to  carry  the  mails  twice  a 
month  by  steam  from  Panama  to  Astoria,  in 
Oregon,  touching  at  Realejo  in  Central  Amer- 
ica, Acapulco,  Mazatlan,  and  Monterey  in 
Mexico.     San  Francisco  was  not  known  at  this 


THE   DISCOYEEY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA,       53 

time,  and  beyond  shipping  one  or  two  cargoes 
of  liides  annually,  Yerba  Buena,  its  present  site, 
had  no  commercial  importance. 

Mr.  Woodward  put  in  a  bid  of  $300,000  per 
annum,  ten  years,  for  side-wheel  steamers,  and 
an  associate  bid  $150,000  for  propellers.  One 
Arnold  Harris,  as  a  speculation,  blundered  into 
a  bid  of  $199,000  per  annum.  These  were  the 
only  bids. 

The  contract  was  awarded  to  Woodward's 
associate,  who  had  bid  $150,000  per  annum  for 
propellers,  but  with  such  conditions,  not  era- 
braced  in  the  advertisement,  as  made  it  wholly 
inadmissible,  and  the  bid  was  withdrawn.  The 
contract  was  then  awarded  to  Harris,  as  the 
next  lowest  bidder.  Before  AVoodward's  asso- 
ciate withdrew  his  bid,  Harris  had  bound  him- 
self in  a  bond  to  assign  the  contract  to  Wood- 
ward should  it  fall  to  him,  Harris,  by  reason  of 
such  withdrawal. 

The  contract  having  fallen  to  Harris,  he  paid 
no  regard  to  his  bond — which  proved  worthless 
—and  after  receiving  the  contract,  he  hawked 
it  about  New  York  for  several  months  ;  but  as 
little  was  known  respecting  the  proposed  route. 


54  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

and  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  the  bond  from  Harris  to  Woodward, 
responsible  parties  outside  of  AVoodward's  com- 
pany manifested  little  inclination  to  midertake 
the  enterprise. 

General  Armstrong,  then  American  consul 
at  Liverpool,  and  a  relative  of  Harris,  now  came 
forward  and  induced  Mr.  W.  H.  Aspinwall  to 
take  the  matter  into  consideration.  After  a 
lively  negotiation  between  the  parties  in  New 
York,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  Wash- 
ington, in  which  Mr.  Woodward  was  entirely  ig- 
nored, Mr.  Aspinwall  assumed  the  contract.  A 
fierce  litigation  now  ensued  between  Woodward 
and  Harris  and  Aspinwall.  But  as  usual  in  such 
cases,  the  brains  and  industry  that  had  modestly 
and  quietly  originated  and  developed  the  enter- 
prise to  a  practical  ])oint,  were  forced  to  suc- 
cumb to  the  audacity  and  ravenous  greed  of 
capital,  wliicli  never  originates  or  invents. 

The  contract  assumed  by  Mr.  Aspinwall 
called  for  three  side-wheel  steamers,  the  first  of 
which  should  sail  for  the  Pacific  in  October, 
1848.  The  Calilurnia  was  the  pioneer  steamer, 
and  she  sailed  for  her  destination  at  the  stipu- 


TUE   DISCOVEEY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA,       55 

lated  time.    The  Oregon  followed  in  JSToveniber, 
and  lastly,  the  Panama. 

The  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia reached  Xew  York  in  Novembei*,  ISiS, 
about  one  month  after  the  steamer  California 
had  sailed. 

TEE   TEIP  OF  THE  FIRST  PASSENGEES   FR05I 
NEW  YORK  TO  SAN"  FRANCISCO  BY  STEAM. 

The  first  reports  of  the  great  discovery  made 
but  little  impression  on  the  public  mind,  but  in 
a  few  weeks  parties  arrived  direct  from  Cali- 
fornia, and  their  wonderful  tales  of  auriferous 
developments,  with  the  exhibition  of  consider- 
able precious  dust  from  the  placers,  soon  gave 
the  people  the  gold  fever. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  1848,  the 
steamer  Isthmus  was  advertised  to  sail  for  Cha- 
gres  the  25th  inst.  But  this  steamer  being  de- 
layed, the  Crescent  City,  Captain  Stoddard,  was 
dispatclied  by  Messrs.  Howard  &  Sons  on  the 
23d  December,  1848.  This  steamer,  with  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  passengers,  myself  among 
the  number,  arrived  at  Chagres  January  2d, 
1849. 


5G  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

Notliiiig  of  moment  occurred  on  the  voyage 
from  ISTcw  York  to  Cliagres,  except  that,  in  a 
furious  gale  off  Ilatteras,  a  steward  was  washed 
overboard.  Several  large  arm-chairs  were 
thrown  over  to  the  unfortunate  man  as  he  floated 
past  the  stern  of  the  ship,  one  of  which  he  suc- 
ceeded in  grasping,  and,  thus  sustained,  he  was 
finally  picked  up  and  saved  by  the  daring  and 
good  seamanship  of  a  Boston  sea-caj)tain  com- 
manding the  life-boat,  manned  by  four  brave 
sailors,  who,  after  an  liom-'s  most  desperate  ex- 
ertion, succeeded  in  pulling  back  to  the  steamer, 
which  could  do  nothing  more  than  lie-to  and 
await  their  return. 

On  reaching  Chagres,  M'C  found  the  steamer 
Fulton  had  arrived  the  day  before  from  New 
Orleans,  with  two  hundred  passengers.  Here 
were  nearly  four  hundred  excited,  adventurous 
gold-seekers  congregated  at  this  wretched  place, 
composed  of  a  hundred  or  moi'e  jacaJs,  or  cane 
huts,  and  inhabited  by  Indians,  negroes,  half- 
breeds,  dogs,  pigs,  etc.  These  adventurers 
were  robustiously  frantic  in  their  efforts  to 
cross  the  isthmus  and  secure  a  passage  on  the 
steamer  California,  the  arrival  of  which   was 


THE  DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       57 

daily  expected  at  Panama.  The  dusky  natives 
witli  their  squalid  cliildren,  their  dogs  and  pigs, 
the  monkeys,  alligators,  snakes,  and  all  created 
things  of  the  aligerous  order,  were  roused  from 
their  dreamy  lethargy  by  this  sudden  irruption 
of  the  Northern  white  race.  The  hubbub  was 
terrific. 

The  only  mode  of  passage  across  the  isthmus 
was  by  boats  up  the  Chagres  Kiver  to  Cruces — 
some  thirty-five  miles — aud  thence  by  pedal  or 
quadrupedal  conveyance  to  Panama.  Every 
species  of  boat  that  could  be  poled  up  the  river 
\7as  in  tremendous  demand.  An  astonishing 
number  of  lanchas^  hungos,  ccmoas,  etc.,  were 
speedily  brought  together  ;  and  in  forty-eight 
hours  from  the  time  of  their  arrival,  the  passen- 
gers were  experiencing  the  distressing  and 
highly  peculiar  navigation  of  the  Chagres  Piver. 
Just  as  the  larger  portion  had  reached  Cruces, 
the  cholera,  which  had  made  its  appearance  on 
the  steamer  Fulton,  broke  out  among  them. 
The  panic  soon  became  fearful.  The  great 
body  of  gold-seekers  rushed  off  for  Panama, 
helter-skelter,  pell-mell,  some  on  mules,  some 
on  horses,  and  some  on  foot.     Friend  left  friend 


58  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OR, 

to  die ;  and  men  brave  under  otlicr  circum- 
stances, sIudIv  away  from  the  danger  tliey  could 
not  see,  leaving  their  baggage  to  its  fate  on  the 
river's  bank,  and  scattered  all  over  tlie  town. 

I  had  joined  a  i)arty  of  five  in  arrangements 
to  cross  the  isthmus  together.  At  Cruces  we 
occupied  a  cane  hut,  where  we  gathered  our 
baggage,  proposing  to  start  for  Panama  after  a 
night's  stretching  of  our  aching  limbs,  that  had 
for  many  long  hours  been  painfully  cramped  in 
the  river  boat.     At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 

one  of  our  party,  Mr.  M ,  of  New  York,  a 

gentleman  of  most  agreeable  disposition,  and 
whose  acquaintance  I  liad  made  on  board  tlie 
Crescent  City,  roused  me,  and  said  he  felt  ill. 
An  hour  later  he  complained  of  being  much 
worse,  and  in  low  tones  begged  me  not  to  desert 
him  should  his  illness  prove  to  be  the  cholera. 
I  immediately  found  a  Dr.  Clements — afterward 
torn  to  pieces  by  a  grizzly  bear  in  California — 

and  recpiested  him  to  call  and  see  Mr.  M . 

lie  did  so,  and  at  once  pronounced  him  ill  of 
cholera.  In  five  minutes  not  one  of  my  com- 
panions was  visible,  and  in  less  than  half  an 
hour  they  were  all  on  the  road  to  Panama,  their 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD    IN    CALIFORNIA .       59 

baggage  remaining  piled  up  in  tlie  but.  One 
of  tliese  was  the  Boston  sea-captain  who  liad 
SO  nobly  risked  Lis  life  in  saving  the  steward  of 
the  Crescent  City  from  a  watery  grave.  That 
was  a  visible  and  familiar  danger,  against  which 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  oppose  his  strength,  ex- 
perience, and  skill ;  but  the  unseen  messenger 
of  death  hovering  about,  armed  with  a  terrible 
pestilence  and  striking  down  his  victims  at  ran- 
dom, was  more  than  he  could  face. 

Of  course  I  assured  Mr.  M that  I  would 

remain  and  do  all  in  my  j^ower  to  save  him  from 
the  terrible  malady.  For  fifty  dollars  I  hired  a 
kind-hearted  Irishman — left  in  charge  of  the 
baggage  of  General  Persifer  F.  Smith,  wlio  had 
passed  on  to  Panama — to  assist  me  ;  and  then 
in  the  blaze  and  heat  of  the  tropical  sun  we 
fought  death  with  such  slender  means  as  under 
the  circumstances  we  could  command,  till  two 

o'clock,  p.  M.,  when  poor  M ,  wasted  to  a 

perfect  skeleton  in  a  few  hours,  yielded  up  his 
life.  He  feared  not  death,  but  his  distress  at 
the  thought  of  leaving  his  family  was  over- 
liowering.  The  last  words  he  was  able  to  utter, 
some  two  hours  before  his  death,  were  a  request 


GO  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

that  if  ever  I  got  back  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
I  would  sec  his  family.  I  complied  with  this 
request  during  my  visit  to  Xew  York,  in  1853, 
and  I  could  not  marvel  at  the  distress  of  the 
father  as  he  faced  death,  and  felt  that  he  must 
part  with  all  that  was  dear  to  him  on  earth 
forever.  I  met  with  a  lovely  family — the 
mother  and  six  children.  There  was  the  little 
one  just  able  to  speak  the  words  of  gi*atitude  as 
instructed  by  the  mother,  and  so  on,  boys  and 
girls,  up  to  the  line  youth  of  fifteen.  As  these 
children  entered  the  room  to  meet  me,  they 
took  my  hand  one  after  the  other,  and  said,  in 
the  most  touching  manner,  "God  bless  you, 
sir,  for  your  kindness  to  our  father !  "  This  was 
a  trying  scene. 

In  the  great  revolution  for  good,  and  the 
hajipincss  and  comfort,  direct  and  indirect, 
which  we  trust  were  among  the  first  results  of 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  there  was  also  a  vast  amount  of 
attendant  evil,  and  that  sorrow  and  miseiy  were 
brought  to  the  hearts  of  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  loved  and  loving  beings.  There 
was  scarcely  a  iamily   tliroughout  the  length 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFORXIA,       61 

and  breadth  of  the  land,  but  what  was  affected 
for  good  or  ill  during  the  first  years  of  the  Cali- 
fornia gokl-fever. 

With  the  assistance  of  several  natives  we 
buried  Mr.  M at  3  p.  m.,  where  other  vic- 
tims among  the  passengers  had  been  laid,  the 
Kev.  Mr.  Douglas  performing  the  funeral  cere- 
mony. This  clergyman  remained  and  heroi- 
cally filled  his  sad  oflSce  till  there  w^as  no  longer 

any  necessity.     Mr.  M was  the  last  victim 

in  Cruces.  He  had  several  trunks  well  filled 
with  every  thing  requisite  for  his  comfort,  on 
the  long  and  uncertain  journey  before  him,  all 
evidently  prepared  and  packed  by  loving  hearts 
and  willing  hands.  To  go  through  the  forms 
required  by  the  alcalde,  and  get  this  little  prop- 
erty in  a  condition  to  return  to  the  family  in 
New  York,  occupied  me  till  far  into  tlie  night 
— and  what  a  weary,  unearthly  night  it  was  ! 
Every  passenger,  except  an  old  man,  Mr.  Eras- 
tus  Sparrow,  and  Mr.  Raymond,  agent  of  tlie 
New  York  steamer,  had  departed.  The  natives 
Avere  dying  of  cholera  in  considerable  numbers  ; 
but,  as  usual  in  these  Catholic  countries,  the 
poor  Indians  evinced  a  kind  of  stolid  rcsigna- 


G2  THE   KOMAJVCE   OF   THE    AGE  ;    OK, 

tioii  to  Fate,  and  resorted  to  religious  ceremo- 
nies. Durin<^  the  ni<!:lit  processions  of  gaunt 
forms,  robed  in  long  white  gowns,  moved 
through  the  miserable  little  town,  chanting  the 
Miserere  and  other  doleful  strains.  Morning 
dawned  at  last;  the  black  pall  of  night  was 
rolled  up,  and  the  unearthly  aspect  of  things 
was  dispelled.  I  had  arranged  with  the  alcalde 
to  take  charge  of  my  own  baggage  and  that  of 
my  light-footed  companions,  and  forward  it  by 
first  opportunity.  I  now  began  to  look  about 
for  something  to  carry  me  to  Panama.  But 
every  thing  with  four  legs  that  could  bear  a 
burden  had  been  pressed  into  the  service,  and 
there  was  nothing  left  for  me.  At  length  I  met 
with  a  very  polite  and  scantily-clad  Indian  gen- 
tleman, who  said  that  possibly  he  might  obtain 
an  animal  for  me  in  a  few  hours.  Being  very 
weary,  I  concluded  to  wait  awhile,  rather  than 
start  on  foot.  At  noon  the  Indian  brought  me 
one  of  the  small  horses  of  the  country,  that  ap- 
peared to  be  simply  a  framework  of  bones.  I 
concluded,  however,  to  take  my  chances  with 
this  defective  beast.  Before  mounting  to  de- 
])art,  I  bade  farewell  to  Mr.  Sparrow,  expressing 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD    m    CALIFOENIA.       63 

the  hope  that  we  should  meet  at  some  future 
day  iu  California.  This  desiccated  old  man  had 
brousrht  as  far  as  Cruces  a  number  of  bales  of 
india-rubber  goods,  which  he  declared  he  would 
stick  to,  cholera  or  no  cholera ;  and  stick  to 
them  he  did.  He  got  them  over  the  isthmus 
and  on  board  the  steamer  California.  On  ar- 
riving at  San  Francisco  he  sold  his  goods  at 
enormous  prices,  and  starting  on  this  success- 
ful venture,  the  old  man  made  a  large  fortune 
in  California,  where  he  now  resides.  I  met 
him  in  Wall  Street  nearly  two  years  ago,  in 
great  haste  to  complete  some  financial  transac- 
tions, preparatory  to  embarking  for  California 
the  next  day.  He  casually  remarked  that  iu 
a  few  days  Le  would  be  a  hundred  and  one 
years  old.  On  expressing  my  surprise  at  this, 
he  remarked  that  when  a  boy,  living  in  one  of 
the  back  towns  of  Massachusetts,  he  heard  the 
thunder  of  the  cannon  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  Whether  the  old  gentleman  numbers 
between  one  and  two  Jiundred  years  or  not  I 
am  unable  to  say.  I  can  assert,  however,  that 
he  is  the  oldest  specimen  of  pluck  and  determi- 
nation I  have  ever  met. 


64  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;   OR, 

Tliere  beino-  notliinor  more  to  detain  rac  at 
Cruces,  I  took  my  departure.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  some  of  my  lonely  trips  across  the  des- 
erts of  Arizona,  surrounded  by  the  merciless 
A])aclies,  I  cannot  remember  to  have  been  in  so 
forlorn  a  situation  as  when  I  started  on  my  sol- 
itary way  from  Cruces  to  Panama,  without  food 
for  the  journey,  Avorn  down  by  the  continued 
excitement  of  painful  scenes  and  want  of  rest, 
and  with  half  a  dozen  cayennc-pcpper  pills  in 
my  pocket — given  me  by  Dr.  Clements — to 
take  should  I  be,  as  others  had  been,  attacked 
by  cholera  en  route.  To  add  to  my  troubles, 
tlic  small  steed  furnislied  me  by  tlic  polite  and 
scantily-clad  Indian  gentleman  broke  down,  so 
far  as  being  able  to  carry  me,  before  evening. 
I  should  have  turned  him  out  to  grass  by  the 
roadside,  but  I  had  bound  myself  in  writing, 
under  the  penalty  of  an  enormous  sum,  com- 
pared with  the  value  of  the  animal,  to  deliver 
him  safe  and  sound  to  Senor  Somebody  in  Pan- 
ama; and  not  feeling  inclined  to  be  accessory 
to  the  swindle,  I  assisted  the  harmless  creature 
over  the  rugged  and  steep  mountain-path,  and 
dragged  him  out  of  the  mud-holes  which  were 
frequent,  it  being  the  rainy  season. 


TUE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       G5 

In  tliis  manner,  Raclcabones  and  I  slowly 
worked  our  way  to  within  some  twelve  miles 
of  Panama,  when  just  at  nio;htfall,  as  we  were 
passing  what  appeared  to  be  a  deserted  hut, 
soTiie  one  within  cried  out,  "  Halloo,  stranger  !  " 
This  proved  to  be  a  fellow-passenger  named  F. 
C.  (xray,  who  had  left  Cruces  the  evening  be- 
fore on  foot,  and  now  he  appeared  to  be  suffer- 
ing from  cholera,  as  he  supposed,  but  it  proved 
to  be  what  became  known  as  Panama  fever.  I 
had  been  in  hopes  of  reaching  an  inhabited  spot 
where  something  in  the  way  of  edibles  could  be 
obtained  before  stopping  for  the  night.  The 
horde  of  passengers  had  cleared  Cruces  and  the 
road  of  every  thing,  and  I  had  not  tasted  a 
mouthful  since  morning.  Mr.  Gray  begged  me 
to  lodge  with  him,  and  he  offered  his  remaining 
stock  of  provisions,  a  box  of  sardines,  and  some 
bits  of  hard  bread.  I  partook  of  a  part  of 
these,  and  after  making  the  best  provision  pos- 
sible for  my  equine  jprotege,  Gray  and  myself 
arranged  to  pass  the  night  as  comfortably  as  the 
circumstances  would  admit.  At  dawn  of  day, 
being  somewhat  refreshed,  and  Gray  feeling 
able  to  i)roceed,  we  resumed  our  journey,  dri- 


GQ  THE    ROMANCE   OF    THE    AGE  ;    OR, 

vino;  Eackabones  before  us,  and  weig-bins:  the 
l)robabi]ities  of  tbe  future. 

Tliis  Mr.  Gray  readied  San  Francisco  bj 
tbe  steamer  Cabfornia,  and  lie  was  tbe  first  of 
tbe  new-comers  to  open  a  gambling-saloon. 
Having  speedily  gained  a  large  amount  of  mo- 
ney, be  suddenly  cut  loose  from  tbe  gambling 
fraternity,  and  commenced  business  as  a  banker 
under  tbe  firm  of  Grabam,  Gray  &  Co.,  and 
was  elected  alderman  at  tbe  first  charter  elec- 
tion. This  and  other  public  ofiices  he  filled 
creditably  until  1853,  when  be  came  to  New 
York,  purchased  a  fine  up-town  bouse,  made 
every  arrangement  to  live  elegantly,  and  then, 
one  fine  morning,  he  went  out  to  tbe  Hudson 
Kiver  Kailroad  track,  and  watching  his  opportu- 
nity just  as  tbe  train  came  thundering  along, 
laid  bis  neck  on  the  rail  and  was  horribly  de- 
capitated. No  reason  could  be  given  for  the 
rash  act.  California  developed  some  extraordi- 
nary characters. 

Three  miles  from  Panama  we  came  to  a  sta- 
tion, where  we  were  able  to  hire  mule  convey- 
ance to  the  city.  I  turned  over  Eackabones  to 
tbe  master  muleteer,  who  })i'omiscd  to  deliver 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFOKNIA.       G7 

him  to  the  agent,  and  at  length,  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  11th  of  January,  1819,  I  entered 
the  gates  of  the  ancient  and  renowned  city  of 
Panama,  astride  a  meagre  mule  of  cadaverous 
expression  and  remarkahly  long  ears.  My 
hroad-brimmed  Indian  straw  hat  was  in  a  con- 
dition to  be  of  little  use,  and  it  certainly  was 
not  ornamental.  My  clothes  were  badly  torn, 
and  I  was  plastered  over  with  mud  from  head 
to  foot.  Assisting  that  small  horse — so  kindly 
procured  for  me  by  the  Indian  gentleman  at 
Cruces — across  the  isthmus,  was  the  principal 
cause  of  the  sorry  plight  in  which  I  made  my 
appearance  at  Panama.  My  fellow-passengei's 
had  given  me  up  as  a  victim  to  the  cholera,  and 
now  they  could  only  recognize  me  as  a  spirit 
from  the  vasty  deep — of  mud. 

The  passengers  were  now  congregated  at 
Panama,  awaiting  the  steamer  California  via 
Cape  Horn,  fully  due.  The  steamer  might  ar- 
rive at  any  hour,  or,  if  an  accident  had  befallen 
her,  she  might  not  arrive  for  weeks.  Tlic  ab- 
sorbing interest  of  this  point,  with  the  better  ac- 
commodations afforded  in  Panama,  had  caused 
the  cholera  ])anic  to  abate,  though  cases  of  botli 


68  THE    EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

cholera  and  Panama  fever  were  constantly  oc- 
curring in  the  city  ;  but  in  a  short  time  the 
cholera  disappeared  entirely.  Considering  the 
bad  season,  the  fatigue  and  exposure  in  crossing 
the  istlimus,  the  lack  of  accommodations  and 
medical  attendance,  with  the  imprudent  indul- 
gences of  many  of  the  strangers,  it  is  remarka- 
ble that  a  larger  number  were  not  swept  off  by 
the  fell  destroyer. 

I  had  secured  my  passage  on  the  steamer 
California  before  leaving  Xew  York.  Otlicrs 
had  done  the  same;  but  the  majority  were 
obliged  to  take  the  chance  of  obtaining  a  pas- 
sage at  Panama.  The  anxious  state  of  mind 
that  prevailed  among  the  latter  can  well  be  im- 
agined. 

Having  secured  comfortable  quarters,  and 
rested  a  day  or  two,  I  joined  a  party  of  four  in 
a  whaleboat  excursion  down  the  bay — fifteen 
miles — to  the  Island  of  Taboga,  now  the  station 
of  tlie  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company. 

Like  a  mass  of  molten  gold,  tlie  waters  of 
the  ba}',  in  sluggish  swells  and  coquettish  rip- 
})lcs,  darted  back  the  solar  rays.  It  all  looked 
very  pleasant   and  very  inviting,  and  there   ap- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFOENIA.       69 

peared  to  be  nothing  but  tropical  heat  to  mar 
the  pleasures  of  the  excursion,  and  a  row  to  the 
island  lying  in  the  calm,  golden  haze  of  the 
liorizon  seemed  to  be  an  easy  matter.  But  it 
proved  otherwise,  as  it  required  hard  pulh'ng 
nearly  all  day  to  reach  our  landing.  We  were 
well  rewarded,  however,  for  our  exertions. 
Modern  utilitarianism  had  not  broken  in  upon 
the  primitive  loveliness  of  this  tropical  island 
gem,  nor  obliterated  the  paradisiacal  aspect  that 
in  gentleness  and  peace  had  rested  there  upon 
things  animate  and  inanimate  from  the  time 
Eve  tempted  and  Adam  fell ;  and  which,  in  a 
few  years,  cannot,  in  view  of  commercial  prog- 
ress, be  found  in  any  spot  on  earth. 

The  beach  was  strewn  with  singing  shells  of 
exquisite  tints  and  beautifully  mottled  ;  balmy 
breezes  tempered  the  tropical  heat,  and  delicious 
waters  leaped  in  silvery  cascades  over  rocks  on 
the  hill-sides,  and  murmured  through  the  dells. 
The  pine-apple,  orange,  banana,  and  other  rich 
fruits,  were  seen  amid  groves  of  the  tamarind, 
cocoanut,  mango,  and  palm  ;  vines  ran  in  fes- 
toons from  tree  to  tree,  and  hung  in  swaying 
pendants  from  the  branches ;  flowers  of  brilliant 


70  TUB   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OK, 

hue  enlivened  the  hmdscape,  wliile  birds  of 
gaudy  plumage  fluttered  and  sang  in  bush  and 
tree  ;  and  lovely  Indian  maidens,  who  dreamed 
away  life  in  a  voluptuous  atmosplicre  that  in- 
vited to  blissful  relaxation  and  repose,  bathed 
in  roch-bound  pools  of  cool,  crystal  waters, 
found  in  picturesque  recesses  hidden  by  a  net- 
work of  foliage  and  flowers. 

So  charming  did  the  island  appear,  tliat  we 
determined,  on  receiving  our  baggage  at  Pana- 
ma, to  return  and  await  the  arrival  of  the 
steamer  California,  in  this  lovely  and  healthy 
spot.  Having  secured  a  commodious  Indian  hut, 
we  started  for  Panama  early  the  next  morning. 
Before  a  third  of  the  distance  had  been  made, 
signs  of  a  heavy  blow  appeared,  and  soon  a 
furious  gale  struck  us  on  our  starboard  bow. 
There  was  but  one  practical  sailor  on  board 
— the  Boston  sea-captain — and  now  in  our  per- 
ilous situation  he  did  us  good  service.  We 
could  not  make  headway  against  the  winds 
and  waves;  wc  could  only  drift  toward  the 
nniinhmd,  lying  some  distance  to  the  northwest. 
The  boat  was  driven  into  an  estuary  of  the  bay, 
toward  a  coast  that  appeared  precipitous  and 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFOENIA.       71 

rocky,  with  here  and  there  a  patch  of  sand- 
beach,  which  by  the  rolling  of  the  breakers  ap- 
peared to  be  somewhat  shelving.  We  knew  we 
were  to  be  dashed  upon  this  coast,  and  that  every 
tiling  depended  upon  onr  being  able  to  so  gnide 
the  boat  that  the  breakers  would  throw  it  upon 
one  of  the  patches  of  sand-beach  instead  of  dash- 
ing it  against  the  rocks,  where  our  destruction 
wouhl  be  inevitable.  A  few  rods  to  the  right 
or  to  the  left,  and  we  would  be  hurled  against 
the  rocks  and  lost.  On  we  were  driven,  riding 
the  crest  of  the  furious  waves  as  nothing  but  a 
whaleboat  can  ride,  direct  for  the  little  haven 
that  promised  a  chance  for  life,  until  seized  upon 
by  the  last  breaker.  Here  we  lost  all  control 
of  the  boat,  and  at  one  moment  we  appeared  to 
be  making  directly  for  tlie  rocks,  and  at  the 
next  we  were  whirled  past  within  a  few  feet 
and  cast  high  and  dry  on  the  patch  of  sand- 
beach  for  which  we  had  steered,  but  with  a 
shock  that  partially  stove  the  upper  works  on 
one  side  of  the  boat,  and  threw  us  out  with  stun- 
ning violence.  All  were  more  or  less  bruised, 
and  one  of  the  party  received  an  injury  in  the 
spine  from  which  he  never  recovered. 


T2  TUE   ROMANCE   OF   TUB   AGE;    OE, 

It  was  now  late  in  the  afternoon,  our  water 
and  provisions  all  consumed,  the  raging  sea  on 
one  side,  a  high,  steep  bank  crested  with  chap- 
arral on  the  other,  and  one  of  the  party  dis- 
abled. Placing  our  boat  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  angry  waves,  w-e  at  once  commenced  scram- 
bling up  the  bank  and  working  our  way  inland 
through  the  chaparral  in  search  of  something 
human.  The  country  appeared  wild  and  deso- 
late, and  should  it  prove  to  be  entirely  unin- 
habited, our  situation  would  be  in  the  highest 
degree  deplorable.  For  an  hour  we  continued 
our  painful  exploration,  tearing  our  clothes  and 
flesh  in  the  dense  chaparral,  and  encountering 
nothing  but  all  sorts  of  snakes,  lizards,  and  de- 
testable bugs  and  flies.  At  length  we  struck  a 
trail,  which,  in  a  few  moments,  led  us  to  an 
open  patch  of  ground  and  an  Indian  hut,  where 
our  eyes  were  gladdened  by  tlie  sight  of  ollas 
of  cool  water  and  plenty  of  chickens  and  yams. 
The  Indians  were  kind  and  hospitable.  They 
cooked  for  us  ;  we  ate  and  drank,  and  soon  our 
bodily  pains  were  forgotten  in  "  Nature's  sweet 
restorer,  balmy  sleep." 

The  first  questic»n  in  the  morning  was,  how 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       73 

to  get  back  to  Pauama,  sixty  miles  distant  by 
land,  and  only  readied  by  circuitous  and  blind 
Indian  paths.  By  sea  the  distance  was  twenty 
miles,  more  than  a  day's  hard  pull,  according 
to  our  experience,  saying  nothing  of  the  un- 
certainty of  the  winds  and  waves.  Ingenuity 
solved  the  difficulty.  iN'oticing  the  light  but 
tightly-woven  and  strong  mats  used  by  the  na- 
tives to  lie  or  sit  upon,  we  purchased  two  of  our 
kind  Indian  host,  and  by  sewing  them  together 
with  pita^  we  made  a  very  respectable  sprit- 
sail  ;  with  nothing  but  a  machete  we  worked  out 
a  mast,  and,  well  supplied  with  strips  of  hide  for 
strings  and  ropes,  we  repaired  to  the  shore,  not 
more  than  half  a  mile  distant,  guided  by  the 
Indian  through  a  well-beaten  path.  We  stepped 
the  mast  and  rigged  the  sail ;  the  gale  had  sub- 
sided, but  the  sea  still  rolled  heavily,  and,  as  the 
best  part  of  tlie  day  was  spent,  we  concluded  to 
retm*n  to  the  Indian's  hut  for  the  night,  and 
take  an  early  start  in  the  morning.  At  dawn 
of  day,  being  well  supplied  with  water,  boiled 
chicken,  and  yams,  we  again  repaired  to  tlie 
shore,  to  find  a  smooth  sea  and  a  dead  calm. 
Fate  appeared  to  be  against  us.     We  waited  till 


74  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

11  o'clock,  wlien  the  sea-breeze  sprang  up.     At 

12  M,,  tlie  tide  served,  we  launched  our  boat, 
spread  our  sail,  and  put  out.  The  novel  sail 
worked  so  well  that  we  were  able  to  dispense 
with  the  white-ash  breeze,  except  for  the  last 
mile  or  two,  and  just  as  the  shades  of  evening 
fell  we  landed  at  the  inole  in  Panama,  Avith  a 
wholesome  experience  that  taught  us  the  hard- 
shij)  and  uncertainty  attending  rowing  excur- 
sions in  those  waters. 

The  next  morning,  all  the  baggage  I  left  in 
charge  of  the  alcalde  at  Cruces  arrived,  and  I 
arranged  to  return  to  the  Island  of  Taboga  the 
following  day.  But  I  was  suddenly  taken  with 
the  cholera,  and  in  view  of  the  fatigue  and 
hardships  to  which  I  had  been  exposed,  1 
promised  to  be  a  ready  victim.  The  cholera 
was  subsiding  in  Panama,  and  having  escaped 
thus  far,  I  had  ceased  to  consider  myself  in  any 
great  danger  of  being  attacked  by  this  dreadful 
malady.  But  it  struck  me  at  last,  and  for  a 
short  time  the  conflict  between  life  and  death 
was  terrible.  In  the  midst  of  this  desperate 
struggle  I  had  consciousness  enough  left  to  be 
aware  that  something  extraordinary  was  taking 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       75 

place  ill  the  city.  My  lodgings  were  near  tlie 
sea-wall  and  facing  tlie  bay.  Suddenly  there 
was  a  rush  of  people  and  the  trampling  of 
many  feet  directly  under  ray  window.  There 
were  discordant  shouts  and  cries,  and  then  the 
shout  went  up  in  and  around  the  house,  ^^ Steam- 
er coming !  steamer  coming  !  "  A  dark  sj)eck 
had  been  .discerned  in  the  horizon,  seaward, 
then  a  murky  streak,  and  finally  the  black  hull 
of  a  steamer  appeared  coming  rapidly  up  the 
bay.  It  proved  to  be  the  long  and  anxiously 
expected  steamer  California.  Tliis  was  the  17th 
day  of  January,  184:9. 

The  effect  on  myself  w^as  magical.  The 
power  of  will  revived  with  tenfold  vigor,  and 
this,  with  the  kind  and  assiduous  care  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Haley,  soon  gained  the  victory.  Life 
conquered,  death  vanished,  and  in  a  few  days 
I  was  able  to  sit  up,  and  from  my  window  look 
out  upon  the  first  American  steamer  that  ever 
floated  in  Pacific  waters,  riding  proudly  at  an- 
chor in  the  harbor  of  Panama. 

"With  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  California  at 
Panama  commenced  scenes  of  wild  excitement, 
wdiicli    continued   for   days    and   even   weeks. 


7()  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

Here  were  congregated  Imudreds  of  adventurers, 
many  of  tliem  wild  and  reckless,  and  all  more 
or  less  actuated  by  the  most  powerful  motives 
by  which  man  is  moved,  namely,  fear,  or  a  de- 
sire to  flee  from  a  sickly  place  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  auri  sacra  fames  on  the  other ;  and 
but  few  of  all  these  had  their  passage  secured 
on  the  steamer  California. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  no  news  of  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  had  reached 
New  York  when  the  steamer  California  sailed 
for  the  Pacific,  and  she  had  been  fitted  up  to  ac- 
commodate only  about  seventy-five  passengers, 
No  sooner,  therefore,  had  she  dropped  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  Panama,  than  Zachary  &  Nelson, 
the  agents  of  the  steamer,  directed  that  every 
arrangement  to  carry  the  largest  number  of 
passengers  possible  should  be  made.  The  fit- 
ting up  and  placing  on  board  tlie  necessary 
supplies  would  require  ten  or  twelve  days. 
During  this  period  tlie  contest  to  obtain  passage 
tickets  on  the  steamer  raged,  and  the  excite- 
ment was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  passengers 
brought  to  Cruces  by  sailing  vessels  and  steam- 
ers.    It  was  finally  discovered  that  no  tickets 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       YY 

could  be  sold  by  the  agents  in  Panama,  as  tlie 
office  in  l^ew  York  had  actually  over-sold  the 
passenger  capacity  of  the  steamer.  What  added 
fuel  to  the  flame,  was  the  fact  that  the  steamer 
on  touching  at  Callao,  on  her  way  up  the  Pa- 
cific coast,  had  received  on  board  some  seventy- 
five  Peruvians  as  steerage  passengers,  the  news 
of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  having 
reached  that  region.  "  What  right,"  exclaimed 
the  ticketless  passengers,  "  has  an  American 
steamer  to  give  passage  to  wretched  greasers, 
when  so  many  honest  American  miners  are 
awaiting  a  conveyance  to  American  territory  to 
dig  American  gold  ? " 

Indignation  meetings  were  held  in  front  of 
the  office  of  Zachary  &  Nelson,  of  the  hotels,  and 
on  the  plaza.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  an- 
cient city  of  Panama,  in  the  old  buccaneer  times, 
ever  witnessed  such  continued  scenes  of  uproar, 
excitement,  and  confusion,  as  reigned  through- 
out the  place  during  the  sojourn  of  the  first 
California  gold-seekers. 

But  the  steamer  was  declared  ready  at  last, 
and  all  who  had  tickets  were  taken  on  board. 
The   passengers  numbered  over  five  hundred, 


78  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OR, 

and  there  were  as  many  more  remaining  at 
Panama,  to  find  their  way  to  California  by 
sailing  vessels,  or  by  the  steamer  Oregon,  tlie 
next  of  the  California  line — due  in  February. 
I  had  sufiiciently  recovered  to  go  on  board  with 
a  number  of  other  cholera  and  Panama-fever 
convalescents.  Among  the  passengers  were 
General  Persifer  F.  Smith  and  stafi";  John  Mc- 
Dongall,  the  first  Governor  of  the  State  after  it 
was  admitted  into  the  Union  ;  Hardin  Bige- 
low,  first  mayor  of  Sacramento  City ;  Kodman 
M.  Price,  then  purser  in  the  Navy,  since  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey ;  T.  B.  Van  Buren,  Esq., 
now  Colonel  Yan  Buren,  of  New  York ;  the  Bev. 
Messrs.  "Wheeler,  Wiley,  and  Douglass,  with 
others  who  became  more  or  less  distinguished. 

The  California  steamed  out  of  Panama  Bay 
on  the  last  day  of  January,  1849.  The  after- 
cabin  was  crowded,  and  every  j^art  of  the  for- 
ward-cabin— in  reality  the  steerage — was  fitted 
up  with  bunks,  while  the  poor  Peruvians  were 
permitted  to  make  themselves  as  comfortable 
as  circumstances  would  admit,  on  the  upper 
deck.  This  ship,  of  eleven  hundred  tons,  was 
literally  alive  with  human  beings. 


THE   DISCOYEKT   OF    GOLD   IN    CALITOENIA.       ^9 

We  had  not  been  at  sea  forty-eig]it  hours, 
before  serions  trouble  arose  among  the  steerage 
or  forward-cabin  passengers,  respecting  the  food 
with  wliich  they  -were  furnished,  the  liorrible 
stench  and  filth  that  prevailed,  and  the  utter 
neglect  of  the  agents  and  officers  to  provide  for 
the  comfort  of  those  who  from  necessity  had 
taken  passage  in  that  part  of  the  shi23.  It  was 
evident  to  all  that  positive  sufiering  throughout 
the  passage  would  be  the  consequence. 

Morning,  noon,  and  night,  those  passengers 
were  fed  like  so  many  animals  on  w'ormy  cliar- 
([lii  or  jerked  beef,  old  and  musty  hard  bread, 
and  miserable  coifee.  These  passengers  were 
not,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  class  usually  found 
in  the  steerage.  There  were  lawyers,  doctors, 
merchants,  and  clergymen,  with  many  oth- 
ei-s,  who  went  in  the  steerage  because  by  no 
possible  means  could  they  go  in  the  cabin. 
There  were  also  those  who  turned  out  to  be 
thieves,  robbers,  blacklegs,  and  murderers.  The 
educated  and  the  ignorant,  the  refined  and  the 
vulgar,  the  good  and  the  bad,  saints  and  sin- 
ners, were  huddled  together  in  the  hold  of 
that  ship  without  distinction.     All  had  paid  a 


80  TUE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

high  price  for  their  passage ;  several  had  pur- 
chased tlieir  tickets  second-hand,  and  given  a 
thousand  dollars  bonus.  Thej  did  not  expect 
cabin  faro,  but  they  demanded  palatable  food 
as  their  right,  and  when  they  found  this  could 
not  be  obtained,  their  indignation  knew  no 
bounds. 

The  first  move  of  the  sufferers  was  to  ap- 
point a  committee — not  an  unusual  proceeding 
with  an  American  constituency — to  wait  on  the 
captain,  and  represent  their  grievances.  The 
eloquence  of  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  a 
first-class  butcher,  was  more  forcibly  direct  than 
persuasively  elegant.  "  Is  that  crawling  stuff," 
said  he,  pointing  to  a  kid  of  beef  that  had 
been  placed  before  the  captain,  "  the  kind  of 
food  to  crowd  down  the  throats  of  free-born 
Americans  ? "  With  all  the  serious  points  in 
the  matter,  this  scene  was  ludicrous  in  the  ex- 
treme. 

Captain  Cleveland  Forbes  brought  the  ship 
from  New  York  to  Panama,  and  although  he 
remained  on  board — ^being  nmcli  out  of  health 
— the  ship  was  in  charge  of  one  Captain  Mar- 
shall, an    excellent   navigator,  a  well-meaning 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA.       81 

man,  aud  apparently  desirous  of  doing  all  in 
his  power  to  make  tlie  passengers  comfortable. 
But  Captain  Marshall  lacked  force  of  will,  and 
decision,  and  at  the  very  start  he  lost  all  control 
of  the  passengers,  especially  those  in  the  steer- 
age, who  numbered  four-fifths  of  all  on  board. 
These  passengers  virtually  had  possession  of  the 
ship  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  voyage. 
They  simply  permitted  the  engineer  to  manage 
the  engine,  and  the  captain  to  do  the  naviga- 
tion. 

To  the  committee  on  food.  Captain  Marshall 
respectfully  replied,  that  the  ship  sailed  from 
Panama  under  an  emergency.  There  was  a 
great  crowd  of  passengers  clamoring  to  get  on 
board  to  go  to  Culifornia.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
had  been  anticipated  when  the  ship  left  New 
York,  and  they  had  not  been  able  to  fully  pre- 
pare for  this  unexpected  state  of  things.  The 
best  provisions  that  Panama  aiforded  had  been 
purchased  for  the  voyage,  and  if  they  proved 
of  bad  quality  it  was  not  his  fault. 

The  passengers  acknowledged  the  truth  of 
all  this,  except  the  statement  that  the  best  pro- 
visions Panama  afforded  had  been  purchased. 
4* 


82  TDE   KOMAJ^CE   OF   THE    AGE  ;   OR, 

Oil  this  and  minor  points  tlie  excitement  con- 
tinued, and  soon  there  were  scenes  of  violence 
around  tlic  cook's  quarters.  A  band  of  roughs, 
their  anger  excited,  and  their  a2:)petites  whetted 
by  the  sight  and  smell  of  savory  dishes  cooked 
for  the  cabin,  attacked  the  cook  and  stewards, 
drove  them  from  the  cook-house,  and  took  for- 
cible possession  of  the  viands.  These  scenes  of 
violence  occurred  on  several  consecutive  days, 
greatly  to  the  discomfort  of  the  cabin  passen- 
gers ;  and  there  were  signs  of  further  serious 
mischief  brewing,  when  we  entered  the  harbor 
of  Acapulco. 

This  brought  temporary  relief.  All  the 
])assengers  who  could  aiibrd  it,  laid  in  such  sup- 
plies as  could  be  obtained — eggs,  fresh  bread, 
fresh  and  dried  fruits,  good  coffee,  etc.,  etc., 
and  after  the  shi})  had  taken  in  a  supply  of  wa- 
ter, we  again  put  to  sea. 

In  a  few  days  the  fresh  provisions  were  all 
consumed,  and  general  demoralization  again 
prevailed.  The  blasphemy  in  the  steerage  be- 
came terrific — a  phenomenon.  One  of  the  most 
distinguished  clergymen  now  residing  in  San 
Francisco  was  in  the  steerage,     llis  nature  was 


TUE   DISCOVEKT   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA.       83 

as  sensitive  and  gentle  as  tliat  of  a  woman. 
The  rongliest  of  the  passengers  treated  him  with 
the  greatest  kindness,  and  when  on  Sunday  he 
performed  divine  service,  their  violence  and 
terrible  blasphemy  subsided,  and  meek  as  lambs 
they  listened  to  the  words  of  the  man  of  God. 

I  asked  this  clergyman  what  he  thought  of 
such  blasphemy,  and  I  was  struck  with  the 
discretion  and  sound  philosophy  evinced  by  his 
reply.  He  said  it  was  certainly  hard  swearing, 
but  the  circumstances  under  which  it  occurred 
were  exceptional.  Such  a  human  cargo,  so 
much  savage  energy  and  active  enterprise,  were 
never  before  pent  up  in  one  small  ship  under 
such  peculiar  cii'cumstances.  There  was  much 
to  irritate,  and  every  thing  to  excite  to  an  ex- 
traordinary degree;  and  while  the  passengers 
were  angry  on  some  points  relating  to  the  ship, 
they  felt  truly  kind  toward  each  other,  and  on 
the  whole  the  swearing  did  not  amount  to 
much.  A  harsher  view  of  the  matter,  and  de- 
nunciation, would  only  make  matters  woi"se. 

We  were  now  making  for  the  port  of  Mazat- 
lan,  and  when  within  a  day's  sail  of  the  place, 
tlie  wheels  of  the  steamer  began  to  turn  slowly. 


84  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OE, 

and  gradually  tliey  ceased  moving  altogetlier. 
For  a  time  the  cause  of  this  stoppage  was  not 
made  known,  but  finally  it  was  aunounced  tliat 
the  firemen  had  mutinied  and  refused  to  perform 
their  duty  any  longer.  These  firemen  were 
actually  sustained  in  their  mutinous  proceed- 
ings by  the  rougher  portion  of  the  steerage  pas- 
sengers ;  and  such  w^as  the  general  demoraliza- 
tion of  the  ship,  and  so  completely  had  the 
ofiicers  lost  all  control,  that  for  several  hours 
M'e  lay  rolling  about  like  a  log  in  a  pretty  rough 
sea,  and  no  attempt  made  to  fire  up  and  move 
on  our  course.  But  the  perversity  of  human 
nature  being  satisfied  at  last,  the  firemen  again 
went  to  work,  aud  in  due  time  we  anchored  in 
the  harbor  of  Mazatlan.  The  captain  here 
showed  pluck  and  determination  for  the  first 
time.  With  the  aid  of  the  Mexican  authoritiee 
he  seized  the  ringleaders  of  the  mutinous  fire- 
men, put  them  on  shore,  and  shipped  Mexi- 
cans in  their  place.  Again  the  passengers  re- 
freshed themselves  with  the  good  things  of 
Mazatlan,  and  obtained  temporary  relief  on 
board  ship  by  taking  in  a  supply  of  such  pro- 
visions as   the  place   atibrded,  without  which 


TUE   DISCOVKRY    OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       85 

tlicy  could  not  liav^e  been  sustained  to  tlie  end 
of  the  voyage.  A  few  days  out  fi.'om  Mazatlan, 
the  same  state  of  demoralization  prevailed,  and 
the  scenes  of  riot  and  confusion  were  of  frequent 
occurrence.  All  this  arose  from  the  fact  that 
at  the  several  ports  made  by  the  steamer,  the 
officers,  with  singular  futuity,  while  doing  noth- 
ing to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  steerage 
passengers,  took  in,  right  before  their  eyes,  fresh 
supplies  for  the  cabin. 

Thus  matters  stood  until  within  three  hun- 
dred miles  of  Monterey,  in  California,  when  the 
steamer's  wheels  again  came  to  a  dead  stand. 
None  of  the  passengers  could  imagine  the  cause, 
but  soon  it  was  announced  that  every  pound  of 
coal  had  been  consumed  !  This,  indeed,  was  a 
serious  matter,  something  calculated  to  restore 
order,  and  sober  everybody.  Three  hundred 
miles  from  port,  live  hundred  half-starved  passen- 
gers, a  short  supply  of  water  and  provisions,  and 
few  vessels  then  to  be  met  with  in  that  part  of 
the  world  ;  no  steam,  no  sails  rigged,  and  heavy 
gales  of  frequent  occurrence  at  that  season  ;  not 
the  most  agreeable  prospect,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged. 


S6  THE   EOMANCE    OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

But  sometliing  must  be  done.  Tlie  ship  was 
beeled  over,  to  throw  one  of  the  wheels  out  of 
water,  and  men  were  set  at  work  to  take  ofi'  the 
fioats.  The  sails  that  had  been  stored  in  New 
York  were  got  out,  and  such  as  could  be  were 
bent.  But  so  tightly  were  the  floats  held  in 
the  rusty  iron  bands,  that  after  working  nearly 
a  whole  day,  but  one  float  was  removed.  This 
proceeding  was  tlien  abandoned,  the  ship  right- 
ed, and  all  sail  possible  was  spread,  in  the  hope 
that  fair  headway  might  be  made.  But  even 
with  a  fair  wind  the  ship  did  not  move  a  knot 
an  hour,  and  it  was  evident  that  some  other 
mode  of  getting  out  of  the  difficulty  must  be 
devised.  Hour  by  hour  matters  grew  worse, 
and  the  jirospect  became  more  gloomy.  Some- 
thing must  be  done.  A  consultation  Avas  held 
on  the  quarter-deck,  and  it  was  resolved  to  burn 
every  spar  and  plank,  every  piece  of  wood  that 
could  be  cut  or  torn  from  the  inside  of  the  ship 
without  endangering  the  hull,  in  the  hope  that 
steam  might  be  kept  up  until  we  could  reach 
Monterey. 

Tackles  were  at  once  rigged,  and  the  work  of 
raising  spare  plank,  spars,  etc.,  from  the  lower 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA.       87 

hold  commenced.  Every  axo  and  saw  on  board 
was  put  in  requisition,  and  the  passeuf^ers  went 
to  work  with  a  will,  although  some  of  those  in 
the  steerage  appeared  to  take  a  sullen  delight  in 
the  difficult  J,  and  it  actually  seemed  as  though 
they  would  willingly  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  could  they  but  take  the  ship  with  them  and 
spite  the  owners. 

The  work  of  gathering  planks,  spars,  etc., 
and  of  sawing,  cutting,  splitting,  and  smashing 
went  on  vigorously  all  over  the  ship.  Steam 
was  raised,  and  the  ship  turned  on  her  course. 
But  the  last  planks  and  spars  were  being  raised 
from  the  hold,  the  demolition  of  berths  in  both 
steerage  and  cabin  had  already  commenced, 
when  it  became  evident  that  all  the  wood  that 
could  be  got  out  of  the  inside  of  the  ship  would 
not  keep  up  steam  but  a  few  hours,  and  a  heavy 
gloom  was  beginning  to  settle  down  upon  the 
passengers,  when  all  were  electrified  by  the  cry 
of  "  Coal !  coal !  coal !  "  On  taking  up  the  last 
planks  and  spars  in  the  lower  hold,  there  were 
discovered  lying  on  the  keel  a  hundred  bags  of 
coal,  shipped  in  Xew  York  as  ballast,  and  the 
fact  was  not  known  to  any  officer  or  other  indi- 
vidual on  board.    • 


88  THE   ROMANCE   OF  THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

Tlie  work  of  cutting  and  sawing  wood  ceased, 
tlie  coal  was  raised,  and  we  continued  on  our 
waj  rejoicing.  But  now  another  difficulty  was 
encountered.  As  we  neared  the  coast  a  dense 
fog  prevailed,  and  for  nearly  a  whole  day  m'C 
groped  about  where  we  supposed  the  entrance 
to  Monterey  Bay  should  be. 

Our  newly-found  supply  of  coal  was  being 
rapidly  consumed,  and  matters  again  began  to 
look  somewhat  dubious,  when  the  fog  lifted  for 
a  few  moments,  and  Purser  Price,  who  had  been 
on  that  coast  before,  got  hold  of  what  he  was 
very  certain  were  tlie  headlands  at  the  entrance 
of  Monterey  Bay  ;  and  taking  the  course  indica- 
ted by  Mr.  Price,  we  steered  through  the  dense 
fog  directly  into  Monterey  harbor,  and  the  fires 
were  getting  low,  for  want  of  coal,  when  we 
came  to  anchor. 

We  remained  in  Monterey  a  week  to  obtain 
a  supply  of  wood  sufficient  to  carry  us  to  San 
Francisco,  ninety  miles  distant.  Captain  Mar- 
shall offered  five  dollars  per  day  to  every  pas- 
senger who  would  chop  wood.  Numbers  in  the 
condition  known  as  "  strapped "  accepted  the 
offer,  and  having  got  on  board  an  adequate  sup- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIEOKNIA.       89 

ply  of  the  fuel,  we  put  to  sea  for  tlie  last  time. 
After  a  rapid  run  we  entered  tlie  Golden  Gate, 
and  amid  tlie  thunder  of  cannon,  the  shouts  of 
the  people  of  San  Francisco,  and  their  wild  re- 
joicings, we  anchored  in  the  bay  on  the  28th 
day  of  February,  1849,  sixty-seven  days  from 
New  York,  and  twenty-nine  daj'S  from  Panama. 
Thus  ended  the  eventful  trip  of  the  first  pas- 
sengers from  New  York  to  California,  and  thus 
terminated  the  extraordinary  voyage  of  the  first 
steamer  from  Panama  to  San  Francisco,  having 
come  round  Cape  Horn,  the  pioneer  of  the  Pa- 
cific Mail  Steamship  Company's  line.  It  is 
somewhat  of  a  marvel  that  the  steamer  arrived 
in  San  Francisco  with  all  lier  passengers  safe 
and  sound.  But  not  a  single  death  occurred, 
and  no  sickness  worth  mentioning.  There  was 
too  much  excitement,  too  much  indignation  on 
board  to.  allow  of  any  sickness.  The  ship 
was  on  fire  several  times,  but  these  fires  were 
extinguished  without  any  general  or  serious 
alarm.  Considerable  heavy  weather  was  en- 
countered, but  nothing  that  caused  damage  to 
the  ship.  The  short  supply  of  coal,  the  bad 
food,  the  tilth,  and  the  demoralized  and  muti- 


90  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

nous  state  of  feeling  that  prevailed  in  conse- 
quence, ^vere  tlie  sources  of  the  principal  trou- 
ble, and  these  came  very  near  being  productiv^e 
of  serious  disaster. 

Seventeen  years  have  ])assed  since  the  occur- 
rence of  the  events  just  narrated.  Captains 
Cleveland  and  Marshall,  General  Persifer  F. 
Smith,  Governor  McDougall,  and  Mayor  Bige- 
low,  are  all  dead.  At  a  meeting  of  surviving 
passengers  held  a  year  ago  in  San  Francisco,  to 
celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  the 
steamer  California,  February  28,  1849, 1  under- 
stand that  nineteen  only  of  the  five  hundred  pas- 
sengers wlio  then  landed,  could  be  counted  as 
still  being  in  the  land  of  the  living.  There  are, 
no  doubt,  many  more  'in  existence,  scattered 
throughout  diflerent  parts  of  the  world,  and 
they  doubtless  retain  a  vivid  recollection  of  the 
excitement  of  the  time,  and  the  extraordinary 
scenes  through  which  they  passed. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  Pacific  mail- 
steamers  were  built  and  dispatched  just  in  sea- 
son to  accommodate  the  first  rush  of  passengers 
to  California.  It  had  required  nearly  three 
years  to  originate  the  line,  obtain  the  contract 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA.       91 

from  the  Government,  bnild  the  steamers,  and 
dispatch  them  to  the  Pacific.  Astoria  was  to 
have  been  the  northern  terminus  of  the  line; 
San  Francisco  was  not  mentioned.  This  enter- 
prise, in  connection  with  Sloo's  line  to  New 
Orleans  and  Chagres,  could  not  have  been 
tnned  more  opportunely  to  meet  the  necessities 
of  the  case. 

I  have  now  described  that  remarkable  com- 
bination of  events  antecedent  to  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  adding  thereto,  as  unin- 
teresting incident  of  the  time,  and  a  personal 
reminiscence,  an  account  of  the  trip  of  the  first 
passengers  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco. 

"We  see  that  the  English  were  just  too  late ; 
the  Bear  flag  was  just  behind  time,  so  were  the 
Mormons.  The  American  flag  was  raised  in 
California  exactly  in  the  nick  of  time,  and  the 
war  with  Mexico  ended  just  as  opportunely. 
The  gold  was  discovered  at  Sutter's  Mill  not  a 
moment  too  soon  or  too  late ;  the  United  States 
closed  the  bargain  for  California  on  the  very 
day  the  gold  was  discovered,  and  the  Pacific 
Mail  and  Sloo'&  lines  of  steamers  were  ready  at 
the  precise  moment  they  were  wanted  to  accom- 


92  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

modate  the  immense  treasure,  mail,  and  passen- 
ger business  tLat  immediately  sprang-  up  be- 
tween the  old  States  and  the  Pacific  shores. 
All  these  events  culminated  between  July,  1846, 
and  February,  IS  IS,  a  period  of  only  eighteen 
months. 


NO  POSITIVE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  EXISTENCE 
OF  GOLD  IN  CALIFORNIA,  PREVIOUS  TO  ITS 

DISCo^^:Ry. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  au}^  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California,  or  positive  knowl- 
edge of  its  existence,  or  any  well-grounded  be- 
lief that  this  precious  metal  would  be  found  in 
considerable  quantities  in  that  territory,  formed, 
up  to  this  time,  little  or  no  part  of  the  attrac- 
tions of  tlie  country,  and  had  no  influence  in 
causing  the  remarkable  combination  of  events 
just  described. 

Every  section  of  country  in  the  New  World 
was,  at  the  time  of  its  discovery,  rej)ortcd  as 
being  rich  in  the  precious  metals.  Voyagers 
and  explorers  made  the  most  extravagant  and 
reckless  statements  respecting  the  quantity  of 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       93 

gold  and  silver  to  be  found  in  the  lands  tliey 
visited.  California  is  thus  mentioned  in  the 
history  of  the  early  voyagers. 

Ilakluyt,  in  his  account  of  the  first  voyage 
of  discovery  made  by  Sir  Francis  Drake  to  the 
coast  of  California  in  1577,  says  :  "  There  is  no 
part  of  the  earth  here  to  be  taken  up  wherein 
there  is  not  some  special  likelihood  of  gold  and 
silver." 

Another  account  says :  "  The  earth  of  the 
country  seemed  to  promise  rich  veins  of  gold 
and  silver,  some  of  the  ore  being  constantly 
found  on  digging." 

Pinkerton,  in  his  description  of  Drake's 
voyage,  remarks  :  "  The  land  is  so  rich  in  gold 
and  silver,  that  upon  the  slightest  turning  it  up 
with  a  spade  or  pick-axe,  these  rich  metals 
plainly  appear  mixed  with  the  mould." 

A  priest  of  the  mission  of  San  Jose,  bay  of 
San  Francisco,  named  Loyala  Cavello,  on  re- 
turning to  Spain,  published,  in  1690,  a  work  on 
Upper  California,  in  which  he  stated  the  occur- 
rence of  gold  in  placers. 

The  Historico-Geographical  Dictionary  of 
Antonio  de  Alcedo,  1786-'89,  positively  asserts 


94  THE    ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

tlie  existence  of  gold  in  California,  even  in 
lumps  of  five  to  eiglit  ponnds. 

Humboldt  visited  Mexico  in  1803.  lie  went 
as  far  nortli  as  Mazatlan,  and  after  exploring  the 
mining  districts  of  the  interior,  worked  by  the 
Spaniards,  he  made  the  remarkable  statement — 
as  will  be  found  in  the  narrative  of  his  travels — 
that  in  his  opinion  the  precious  metals,  which  in 
that  portion  of  Mexico  were  only  reached  at 
great  depth,  would  be  found  in  large  quantities 
near  the  surface  in  the  extreme  northern  part 
of  the  Spanish  possessions,  referring  to  what  arc 
now  the  Territories  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico, 
and,  the  States  of  JSTevada,  Colorado,  and  Cali- 
fornia. 

The  Penny  Cyclopaedia  of  1836  thus  disposes 
of  the  matter:  "In  minerals  Ujjper  California 
is  not  rich.  A  small  silver  mine  has  been  found 
cast  of  St.  Lies,  but  it  has  been  abandoned.  In 
one  of  the  rivers  falling  into  the  southern  Tulare 
lakes,  gold  has  been  found,  but  as  yet  in  very 
small  quantities." 

In  1837,  a  priest  went  from  California  to 
Guatemala,  and  by  liis  representations  induced 
Mr.  Young  Anderson,  a  Scotch  gentleman,  to 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA.       95 

attempt  to  enlist  EngHsli  capital  for  the  purpose 
of  exploring  for  gold  in  the  vicinity  of  San 
Francisco.  Tlie  scheme  was  regarded  in  Eng- 
land as  qaixotic. 

Prof.  J.  J.  Dana,  of  Wilkes's  exploring  expe- 
dition, came  across  the  land  from  Oregon  to 
Sutter's  Fort  in  1842,  and,  in  his  geological  re- 
port of  the  country,  he  mentioned  the  favorable 
appearance  of  both  California  and  Oregon  for 
gold. 

One  Dr.  Sanders,  a  Swede  of  scientific  at- 
tainments, and  who  had  resided  in  Mexico,  was 
sent  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford  to  explore  Cali- 
fornia. He  explored  the  Butte  Mountains,  and 
all  that  region,  in  1843,  and  on  leaving  the 
country  he  told  Captain  Sutter  that  he  found  evi- 
dences of  gold  in  the  mountains,  but  he  would 
not  advise  him  to  search  for  it,  as,  in  his  opinion, 
it  would  only  j^ay  a  government  to  work  the 
mines,  should  any  be  found.  "Your  mine," 
said  Dr.  Sanders,  "  is  in  the  soil." 

On  the  21st  of  December,  1816,  L.  W.  Sloat, 
Esq.,  who  had  made  a  brief  visit  to  California, 
read  a  very  interesting  paper  before  the  Lyceum 
of  Natural  History,  in  ITew  York,  in  which  he 


96  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;   OR, 

expressed  his  views  relative  to  the  existence  of 
gold,  silver,  etc.,  throughout  that  territory,  in 
the  following  positive  manner :  "  There  is  not 
the  least  doubt  in  my  mind,  from  all  the  infor- 
mation I  was  enabled  to  obtain  during  my  stay 
in  California,  that  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  cop- 
per, lead,  sulphur,  asphaltum,  and  coal,  are  to  be 
found  in  all  that  region;  and  I  am  confident 
that  when  it  becomes  settled — as  it  soon  will  be 
by  Americans — the  mineral  developments  will 
greatly  exceed  in  richness  and  rarity  the  most 
sanguine  exj)ectations." 

Now  to  the  careless  reader  all  this  would  be 
considered  a  strong  record,  and  it  would  seem 
as  though  the  existence  of  gold  in  California,  in 
quantities  as  discovered  in  our  day,  has  been 
known  from  the  time  of  Drake's  first  voyage  in 
1577.  But  a  little  intelligent  investigation  of  the 
subject  will  show  that  all  these  extravagant  rep- 
resentations respecting  the  existence  of  the  pre- 
cious metals  in  California  were  utterly  baseless. 

The  statements  of  the  existence  of  an  abun- 
danc;e  of  gold  and  silver,  such  as  those  of  Ilak- 
luy  t,  Pinkerton,  Cavello,  and  Alcedo,  must  have 
been  purely  imaginary.     Tliose  of  Drake's  his- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFOKNIA.      97 

torians  especially  are  perfectly  absurd.  Neither 
gold  nor  silver  lias  as  yet  been  found  in  any 
part  of  California  that  Drake  and  his  compan- 
ions ever  saw  or  heard  of. 

Gold  is  not  found  on  the  coast,  in  the  Coast 
Range  of  mountains,  nor  in  the  valleys  beyond. 
It  is  not  found  until  the  spurs  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  range,  two  or  three  hundred  miles  from 
the  coast,  are  reached ;  and  the  silver  district 
is  located  still  further  in  the  interior.  Both 
gold  and  silver  were  found  at  last  in  an  entirely 
different  region  of  tlie  territory  from  that  in 
which  their  existence  was  predicted. 

Another  evidence  of  defects  in  the  his- 
tories of  voyages  and  explorations  in  those 
days  is  the  fact  that  when  California  was 
.first  discovered  and  occupied  by  the  Euro- 
peans, not  an  ounce  of  gold  or  silver  was 
found  among  the  aborigines !  and  they  were 
possessed  of  no  description  of  metal.  Their 
rude  implements  of  peace  and  war  were  made 
of  wood,  stone,  or  bone.  The  only  ornaments 
discovered  among  them  were  chains  of  bone 
and  crowns  of  network,  wrought  with  feathers 
of  many  colors. 


98  THE    KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

Captain  Woode  Rogers,  who  touclied  on  the 
coast  of  Lower  California  in  1709,  describes  tlic 
aborigines  as  qnite  naked,  except  that  the 
women  wore  a  short  petticoat,  reaching  scarcely 
to  the  knees,  and  made  of  grass,  or  the  skins  of 
pelicans  or  deer.  Some  of  them  wore  pearls 
around  their  necks,  which  they  fastened  with  a 
string  of  silk-grass,  having  first  notched  them 
all  round ;  and  Captain  Rogers  imagined  they 
did  not  know  how  to  bore  them.  These  pearls 
were  mixed  with  sticks,  bits  of  shells,  and  little 
red  berries. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  during  tlie  several 
ages  California  was  claimed  and  occupied  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  down  to  the  period  when 
gold  was  actually  discovered  at  Sutter's  Mill, 
not  a  single  event  of  special  moment  had  oc- 
curred tending  to  excite  attention  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  existence  of  an  abundance  of  gold  in 
that  territory,  or  cause  any  effort  to  be  made 
for  its  discovery. 

It  is  true  that  in  1812  a  gold  placer  was 
found  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Fernando,  twenty 
miles  east  of  Los  Angeles.  About  $14,000 
were  taken  out  of  tliis  placer  in  tlie  course  of  a 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.       99 

year  by  the  inliabitants,  and  sold  to  the  Boston 
traders.  This  discovery  created  no  particular 
excitement.  The  placer  was  supposed  to  have 
been  worked  out,  and  nothing  more  was  thought 
of  it.  It  is  possible  that  the  existence  of  other 
small  placers  may  have  been  known.  But  pla- 
cer gold  diggings  were  not,  at  this  time,  con- 
sidered of  nnich  importance  in  any  portion 
of  Spanish  America.  The  inhabitants  simply 
scratched  over  the  surfiice,  and  washed  or 
blew  out  the  dirt  in  small  wooden  troughs 
or  bowls  called  hateas.  They  knew  nothing  of 
bed-rock,  or  the  natural  tendency  of  loose  gold 
to  deposit  itself  thereon. 

It  is  true  that  common  report  says  the 
Jesuit  fathers  who  established  the  missions  on 
tlie  coast  knew  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia in  large  quantities,  and  that  they  con- 
cealed their  knowledge.  I  made  this  a  sub- 
ject of  special  inquiry  when  in  California,  but 
nothing  was  elicited  to  sustain  such  a  report. 
On  the  contrary,  old  native  Californians  told 
me  that  they  never  heard  or  believed  any  thing 
of  the  kind.  No  missions  were  ever  established 
in  those  regions  where  the  o-old  was  found  at 


1 00  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;   OE, 

last,  or  in  the  interior  valleys  in  California. 
They  had  no  tradition  in  California,  even  among 
tlie  Indians,  respecting  the  existence  there  of 
the  precions  metals.  General  Sutter  informed 
nie  that  he  had  often  asked  the  Indians  to 
search  for  specimens  of  minerals.  They  would 
bring  him  blue,  red,  and  white  clay  and  colored 
stones,  but  never  any  thing  indicating  the  pres- 
ence of  gold  or  other  metals. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  eager  gold-seekers 
have  overrun  California,  and  prospected  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  State.  In  working  the 
mines,  mountains  have  been  tunnelled,  hills  torn 
down,  valleys  shafted,  and  rivers  taken  from 
their  beds  and  carried  long  distances  through 
other  channels.  The  immense  masses  of  earth 
displaced  all  over  the  mining  regions  afford  an 
example  of  the  tremendous  energies  of  man 
thirsting  for  gold  never  equalled.  Yet  all  this 
])enetration  of  the  earth  and  overthrow  of  its 
surface  have  failed  to  elicit  a  particle  of  evidence 
going  to  prove  a  preexisting  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  gold  lay  hidden  in  soil  and  rock,  or 
that  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  humanity  above 
or  different  from  the  miserable  Digger  Indians 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFOKNIA.    101 

DOW  found  there,  ever  inhabited  the  country. 
Neither  on  the  coast  is  there  any  evidence  that 
tlie  country  was  ever  peopled  by  a  diflerent  race 
of  beings  than  such  as  were  in  occupation  when 
we  went  there. 

California,  with  her  fine  climate,  magnificent 
mountains,  lovely  hills  and  valleys,  and  bound- 
less wealth — California,  so  blessed  by  ISTatm-e, 
so  Avell  adapted  to  the  development  of  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection,  mental  and  physi- 
cal, attainable  by  man,  and  destined  to  be  the 
home  of  an  advanced  civilization,  has  remained 
from  time  immemorial  a  virgin  land.  In  no 
country  in  the  world  has  there  been  so  little 
found  to  interest  the  antiquarian.  During  the 
unknown  past  this  Queen  of  the  Pacific  has 
concealed  her  charms  and  her  riches,  to  bestow 
them  on  the  daring,  energetic  adventurers  from 
over  the  mountains. 

The  people  of  no  state  ever  indulged  in  more 
extravagant  predictions  of  its  future  greatness 
than  did  the  Californians — especially  those  re- 
siding in  San  Francisco,  for  several  years  previ- 
ous to  the  discovery  of  the  gold-mines,  as  the 
columns  of  the  Alia  California,  the  diminutive 


102  THE   EOMAXCE   OF   THE   AGE;   OR, 

journal  of  that  day,  will  abundantly  testify. 
But  tliese  extravagaTit  predictions  were  not 
based,  in  any  particular  degree,  on  tlie  supposed 
existence  of  any  great  quantity  of  the  precious 
metals  in  the  Territory.  Other  interests  were 
the  more  prominent,  and  when  the  gold  was 
discovered,  the  Californians  were  as  much  as- 
tonished as  anybody  else  ;  and  on  the  first 
breaking  out  of  the  gold-fever  in  the  Territory, 
San  Francisco  having  been  nearly  depopulated 
thereby,  one  conservative  and  unbelieving  citi- 
zen of  the  place  expressed  his  views  in  the 
following  communication  to  the  Alia  Calif  ornia 
of  May  24,  1848: 

"I  doubt,  sir,  if  ever  the  sun  shone  upon 
such  a  farce  as  is  now  being  enacted  in  Cali- 
fornia, though  I  fear  it  may  prove  a  tragedy 
before  the  curtain  drops.  I  consider  it  your 
duty,  Mr.  Editor,  as  a  conservator  of  the  public 
morals  and  welfare,  to  raise  your  voice  against 
the  thing.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  General  Ma- 
son will  dispatch  the  volunteers  to  the  scene  of 
action,  and  send  these  unfortunate  people  to 
their  liomes,  and  prevent  others  from  going 
thitlier." 


THE   DISCOVEJRY   OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFOKNIA.    103 

From  the  foregoing  historical  facts,  it  ap- 
pears that  neither  in  positive  discovery,  in- 
dication, or  tradition,  was  there  sufficient  to 
establish  the  fact  that  gold  would  be  found  in 
California  in  paying  quantities.  The  tine  harbor 
of  San  Francisco,  so  admirably  located  to  com- 
mand the  commerce  of  the  North  Pacific  coast, 
and  to  open  a  trade  of  unlimited  extent  with 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  with  the  Asiatic 
shores ;  the  extensive  agricultural  districts  of  the 
Territory,  and  its  immense  capacity  for  stock- 
raising,  fine  climate,  and  tlie  'vague  idea  that 
some  day  large  quantities  of  minerals  might  be 
found,  constituted  the  chief  attractions  apper- 
taining to  Upper  California  when  it  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  United  States. 

SUTTEE'S  CONDITIOX  IN  1848. 

Resuming  the  direct  narrative  of  the  discov- 
ery of  gold  at  Sutter's  Mill,  early  in  1848,  we 
find  that  Captain  Sutter  was  then  the  undisputed 
possessor  of  almost  boundless  tracts  of  land,  in- 
cluding the  former  Russian  possessions  of  Ross 
and  Bodega,  and  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Sa- 


104  THE   EOMAXCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OK, 

crameiito.  He  Lad  performed  all  the  conditions 
of  his  laud-grants,  built  liis  fort,  and  completed 
many  costly  improvements.  At  an  expense  of 
$25,000,  he  had  cut  a  mill-race  three  miles  long, 
and  nearly  finished  a  new  flouring-mill.  lie 
had  expended  $10,000  in  the  erection  of  a  saw- 
mill near  Coloma;  one  thousand  acres  of  virgin 
soil  were  laid  down  to  wheat,  promising  a  yield 
of  forty  thousand  bushels ;  and  extensive  prepa- 
rations had  been  made  for  other  crops.  He 
owned  eight  thousand  cattle,  two  thousand 
horses  and  mules,  two  thousand  sheep,  and  one 
thousand  swine. 

Captain  Sutter  raised  the  American  flag  on 
his  fort  July  11,  1846.  Subsequently  Lieuten- 
ant Missroon,  of  the  United  States  Kavy,  came 
up  and  organized  a  garrison  for  the  fort,  mostly 
of  Sutter's  own  men — whites  and  Indians — and 
gave  Sutter  the  command,  Avhich  he  held  until 
peace  was  declared.  He  was  also  appointed 
alcalde  of  the  district  by  Commodore  Stockton, 
and  Indian  agent  by  General  Kearney. 

Such  was  Captain  Sutter's  situation  when 
the  gold  was  discovered  on  his  premises.  Truly, 
he  could  say  : 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    105 

"  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 

My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute.'" 

Aud  here  our  pioneer  lived  like  a  baron  of 
old,  with  liis  people,  and  his  flocks  and  herds 
around  him,  untramelled  by  the  conventionali- 
ties of  artificial  society,  and  undisturbed  by  the 
din  and  turmoil  of  compact  civilization. 

Sutter's  sympathies  were  with  the  United 
States,  and  his  affiliations  were  with  the  citizens 
of  the  great  Republic.  In  all  his  acts  he  mani- 
fested that  love  of  liberty  and  of  the  republican 
form  of  government  which  characterizes  his 
countrymen  in  so  eminent  a  degree  ;  and  all  of 
Sutter's  aspirations  and  eiforts  were  to  the  end 
that,  in  some  legitimate  manner,  California 
should  be  brought  into  the  American  Union. 

MARSHALL. 

But  there  is  another  pioneer,  humble  in  ori- 
gin and  pretensions,  yet  holding  a  prominent  posi- 
tion in  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  This 
is  James  W.  Marshall,  who  emigrated  from 
Kew  Jersey  to  Oregon  in  1843,  and  from  Oregon 
to  California  in  1844.    Here  he  enn-agcd  in  farm- 


106  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

iiig  and  stock-raising  in  a  small  way  nntil  the 
breaking  ont  of  the  Mexican  War,  when  he  en- 
listed in  the  California  battalion  under  Fremont, 
served  faithfully  throughout  his  term  of  enlist- 
ment, and  received  an  honorable  discharge. 
Returning  home,  Marshall  found  his  horses  and 
cattle  gone — some  strayed  and  otliers  stolen — 
and  in  order  to  obtain  means  to  buy  other  stock 
and  put  his  place  to  rights,  he  applied  to  Cap- 
tain Sutter  for  work.  Marshall  was  then  about 
thirty-eight  years  of  age,  unmarried,  faithful, 
eccentric,  and  exceedingly  stubborn.  He  ob- 
tained immediate  employment  from  Captain  Sut- 
ter, and  proved  an  ingenious  mechanic;  making 
himself  quite  useful  in  tlic  construction  of  chairs, 
tables,  and  all  those  articles  of  household  furni- 
ture so  much  needed  in  a  new  settlement. 


LOCATION"  OF  THE  SAW-MILL. 

Lumber  was  in  great  demand  among  the 
settlers  of  the  Sacramento  valley,  their  numbers 
having  been  considerably  augmented  by  the  ar- 
rival of  Mormons  and  others  from  over  the 
mountains.    Marsliall  being  a  good  judge  of  the 


THE   DISCOYEKY    OF    GOLD   EST    CALIFOIINIA.    107 

article,  and  otherwise  competent  to  manage  tlie 
enterprise^  he  was  dispatched  bj  Captain  Sut- 
ter, with  an  Indian  guide  and  interpreter,  May, 
184:7,  to  the  mountains  to  select  the  site  for  a 
saw-mill.  Marshall  returned  and  reported  that 
he  had  found  a  good  location  on  the  south  fork 
of  the  American  EiYcr,  forty  miles  east  of  the 
Fort,  and  at  a  point  called  by  the  Indians  Cul- 
loo-nui,  now  called  Coloma.  The  water-power 
was  good,  pine  trees  were  plenty,  and  a  Mexi- 
can cart  could  pass  without  difficulty  between 
the  fort  and  the  proposed  site  of  the  saw-raill. 
Some  delay  occurred,  and  it  was  not  until  Au- 
gust, 1847,  that  Captain  Sutter  finally  arranged 
with  Marshall  to  superintend  the  erection  and 
runninir  of  the  saw-mill. 


DISCOVERY  OF  TILE  GOLD. 

The  saw-mill  was  completed  in  January, 
1848,  and  they  had  just  commenced  sawing 
lumber  when,  on  the  night  of  February  2, 
1848,  Marshall  appeared  at  Sutter's  Fort,  his 
horse  in  a  foam  and  himself  presenting  a  singu- 
lar a]"»pearance — all  bespattered  with  nmd,  and 


108  THE   KOilANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OR, 

laboiing  under  an  extraordinary  degree  of  ex- 
citement. He  immediately  requested  Captain 
Sutter  to  go  with  liim  into  a  room  where  they 
could  be  alone.  This  request  was  granted,  and 
after  the  door  was  closed,  Marshall  asked  Cap- 
tain Sutter  if  he  was  sure  they  would  not  he 
disturbed,  and  desired  that  the  door  might  be 
locked.  Captain  Sutter  did  not  know  what  to 
make  of  his  actions,  and  he  began  to  think  it 
hazardous  to  lock  himself  in  the  room  with 
Marshall,  who  appeared  so  uncommonly  strange. 
Marshall  heing  satisfied  at  last  that  they 
would  not  be  interrupted,  took  from  his  pocket 
a  ]Douch  from  which  he  poured  upon  the  table 
about  an  ounce  of  yellow  grains  of  metal  which 
he  thought  would  prove  to  be  gold.  Captain 
Sutter  inquired  where  he  got  it.  Marshall  stated 
that  in  the  morning,  the  water  being  shut  off 
from  the  saw-mill  race,  as  was  customary,  he 
discovered,  in  passing  through  the  race,  shining 
particles  here  and  there  on  the  bottom.  On  ex- 
amination he  found,  them  to  be  of  metallic  sub- 
stance, and  tlie  tliought  flashed  over  him  that 
they  might  be  gold.  IIoio  lig  icith  events  icas 
this 2>oint  of  time  ! 


Sutter's     s  a  w  -  m  i  i,  t.  ,     c  o  i,  o  m  a 


0?    TJ* 


TDE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    100 

Marshall  stated  that  the  laborers — white  and 
Indian — had  picked  up  some  of  the  particles, 
and  he  thought  a  large  quantity  could  be  col- 
lected. 

Captain  Sutter  was  at  first  quite  incredulous 
as  to  these  particles  being  gold,  but  happening 
to  have  a  bottle  of  nitric  acid  among  his  stores, 
he  applied  the  test,  and,  true  enough,  the  yellow 
grains  proved  to  be  pure  gold.  The  great  dis- 
covery was  made  ! 

Yiew  these  men  as  they  sit  at  the  hour  of 
midnight  in  the  dimly  lighted  room  of  that 
adobe  fort,  located  far  up  the  Sacramento,  the 
other  side  of  the  world  to  everybody  but  them- 
selves, isolated,  all  unknowing  and  unknown  ; 
one  an  educated,  polished  gentleman  from  Eu- 
rope, the  other  a  plain,  honest  mechanic  from 
the  United  States.  Regard  them  as  they  ex- 
amine those  little  yellow  grains  and  learn  that 
they  are  gold.  The  action  of  no  king  on  his 
throne,  no  ^svarrior  at  the  head  of  his  army,  no 
statesman  or  legislative  body  that  ever  existed, 
was  more  conducive  to  events  of  the  highest 
import  to  the  human  race,  than  was  that  of 
these  two  humble,  private   individuals,   when 


110  THE   KOMANCE    OF   THE   AGE;    OK, 

they  sat  at  tlic  midnight  hour,  secluded  and 
lonely,  in  that  remote  country,  and  discovered 
that  they  were  handling  gold. 

What  a  subject  for  the  dramatist !  "What  a 
scene  for  the  painter !  This  was  the  denoue- 
ment of  the  plot  in  the  drama  Omnipotence  was 
enacting  in  California, 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  another  scene 
in  this  omnipotent  drama  was  being  enacted  in 
the  Mexican  capital.  On  the  very  day,  perhaps 
the  very  moment  that  Marshall  discovered  the 
grains  of  gold  in  Sutter's  mill-race,  the  treaty 
that  closed  the  Mexican  War  and  gave  us  Cali- 
fornia, was  signed  in  the  city  of  Mexico  ! 

The  acquisition  of  California,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  gold,  are  events  beyond  the  range  of 
man's  calculation  in  their  influence  on  the  des- 
tiny of  the  great  American  Republic.  Though 
the  occurrence  of  those  two  events  on  the  same 
day  is  a  startling  coincidence,  there  is  no  mys- 
tery about  it — nothing  that  need  arouse  the 
nonsense  of  superstition.  Age  by  age  we  can 
clearly  trace  the  footsteps  of  time  coming  down, 
jjcriod  by  period,  with  unciTing  precision,  to 
those   occurrences   that   have   [)rccipitatcd    the 


THE   DISCOVEKY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOKNIA.    Ill 

United  States  onward  in  their  course  of  empire 
with  a  bewildering  rapidity.  Columbus  had 
discovered  America,  and  the  Spaniard  had  en- 
forced his  bloody,  soul-crushing  Christianity 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  Terra  del  Fuego 
to  the  everglades  of  Florida,  where  Ponce  de 
Leon  searched  for  the  waters  of  youth.  A  little 
more  than  two  centuries  after  the  landing  of 
the  Spaniard,  tlie  Anglo-Saxons  appeared  on 
the  Atlantic  shores  of  the  northern  portion  of 
the  continent,  and  one  by  one  the  colonies  and 
peculiar  institutions  of  the  race  were  planted 
from  l^ova  Scotia  to  the  Mexican  Gulf.  Then 
the  American  Revolution  gave  birth  to  a  new 
nation,  which  created  a  republic  that  soon  ac- 
quired the  Louisiana  territory  and  Florida,  and 
extended  to  the  Pacific  shore.  The  native  races 
had  thrown  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  and  republics 
skirted  the  Andes  and  Cordilleras,  from  Chili  to 
California.  Stephen  Austin,  of  Connecticut, 
had  obtained  the  consent  of  Mexico  to  colonize 
the  Province  of  Texas  with  ISTorth  Americans ; 
and  these,  bringing  their  slaves  into  the  prov- 
ince, contrary  to  Mexican  law,  caused  the  be- 
ginning of  trouble  with  Mexico,  wliich  resulted 


112  THE   KOMAKCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;   OK, 

in  the  war  that  gave  Texas  her  indepeTidence, 
which  led  to  annexation  to  the  United  States. 
This  brought  on  the  war  with  Mexico,  which 
resulted  in  peace  and  the  acquisition  of  New 
Mexico  and  California,  February  2, 1848. 

Now  look  at  another  class  of  events,  tending 
directly  to  the  same  great  end.  Sutter,  bom 
in  1803,  the  year  in  which  we  acquired  the 
Louisiana  territory,  had  emigrated  from  Europe 
and  settled  in  the  Missouri  portion  of  that  terri- 
tory. From  thence,  after  five  years'  wandering 
in  New  Mexico,  over  the  Eocky  Mountains, 
through  Oregon,  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and 
the  Russian  possessions,  he  had  located  in  the 
wild  and  isolated  Sacramento  valley,  built  his 
fort,  subdued  the  country,  established  an  exten- 
sive and  flourishing  colony;  and  all  this  occurred 
just  in  season  to  make  the  great  discovery. of 
gold,  through  the  immediate  instrumentality  of 
Mai-shall — who  liad  found  his  way  there  from 
New  Jersey — at  tlie  opportune  moment  when 
the  title  of  the  territory  jjassed  into  our  hands, 
free  from  any  complication  that  might  have 
arisen  out  of  the  more  timely  action  of  the  Eng- 
lish, the  Mormons,  or  the  raising  of  the  Bear 
fla<r. 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD    IN    CALIFORNIA.    113 

This  precise  and  liannonious  working  of 
events  to  one  great  end,  is  worthy  of  more  than 
a  passing  notice.  It  may  well  excite  the  inter- 
est and  wonder  of  the  human  mind. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD  BECOMES  TUBLIC. 

We  left  Sutter  and  Marshall  examining  the 
particles  of  gold  and  discussing  the  circumstan- 
ces of  the  discovery.  Marshall  determined  to 
return  to  the  saw-mill — forty  miles  distant — 
that  night,  and  he  desired  Captain  Sutter  to 
accompany  hitn ;  but  it  was  raining  hard,  and 
Captain  Sutter  concluded  to  remain  till  day- 
light. Marshall  left  immediately.  In  the  morn- 
ing Captain  Sutter  started  for  the  saw-mill,  and 
when  within  ten  miles  of  that  locality,  he  saw 
something  coming  out  of  the  bushes  by  the 
road-side,  a  short  distance  in  advance.  At  first 
he  thought  it  was  a  grizzly  bear,  but  it  proved 
to  be  Marshall.  Sutter  inquired  what  he  was 
doino-  there.  Marshall  replied  that  he  had  been 
to  the  saw-mill,  and  in  his  impatience  he  had 
returned  thus  far  to  meet  him.  They  went  on 
together,   and   on   reach hig   the   mill-race   the 


114  TUE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

laborers  were  found  busily  occupied  picking  up 
particles  of  gold. 

After  some  examination,  Captain  Sutter  be- 
came satisfied  that  gold  in  considerable  quanti- 
ties would  be  found  in  that  neigbborliood  ;  and 
wbile  the  reflections  of  Marshall  were  probably 
confined  to  the  idea  of  rapidly  acquired  wealth 
for  himself,  Captain  Sutter  realized  at  once  how 
impossible  it  would  be  to  hold  his  laborers  to 
their  woi"k  in  carrying  on  his  improvements, 
gathering  his  crops,  and  avoid  being  overrun 
by  new-comers,  should  the  gold  prove  abundant 
and  the  discovery  be  promulgated.  He  there- 
fore begged  the  laborers  to  say  nothing  about 
the  gold  for  six  weeks.  His  grist-mill  and  some 
other  improvements  would  then  be  completed, 
and  his  crops  all  gathered.  The  laborers  prom- 
ised to  comply  with  his  request,  and  Captain 
Sutter  returned  home  on  the  5th  of  February. 
^  But  the  great  secret  could  not  long  be  re- 
tained. A  bottle  of  whiskey  made  it  known. 
A  teamster  whom  Captain  Sutter  liad  dispatched 
to  the  saw-mill  with  supplies,  heard  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold,  and  managed  to  obtain  some  of 
the  precious  grains.     On  returning  to  the  fort 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    115 

be  immediately  went  to  the  neighboring  store, 
kept  by  a  Mormon,  and  demanded  a  bottle  of 
whiskey.  This  was  a  cash  article  in  that  coun- 
try, and  as  the  teamster  was  poor  pay,  the  trader 
refused  to  sell  him  the  whiskey.  The  man  de- 
clared he  had  plenty  of  money  and  exhibited 
some  grains  of  gold.  The  astonished  trader,  on 
being  satisfied  that  these  were  gold,  gave  his 
customer  the  bottle  of  whiskey,  and  earnestly 
inquired  where  he  got  the  gold.  The  teamster 
refused  to  make  known  the  secret  till  he  had 
imbibed  considerable  of  the  liquor,  when  his 
tongue  was  loosened,  and  he  told  all  about  the 
discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's  saw-^ill. 

The  wonderful  tale  spread  like  wild-fire 
throughout  the  sparsely  inhabited  Territory  of 
California.  It  ran  up  and  down  the  Pacific 
coast,  traversed  the  continent,  reached  the  At- 
lantic shores,  and  in  a  few  months  the  story  of 
California's  golden  treasures  had  startled  the 
whole  civilized  world. 

Many  inaccurate  and  incomplete  statements 
relative  to  this  great  discovery  have  been  put 
forth.  It  has  been  published  that  a  little  daugh- 
ter of  Marshall  first  picked  up  pieces  of  gold  in 


116  THE   ROMANCE    OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

the  saw-mill  race  and  carried  them  to  her  father. 
This  statement  is  entirely  incorrect,  as  Marshall 
never  had  a  daughter.  He  was  not  married 
then,  and  he  lives  a  bachelor  to  this  day. 

It  has  also  been  published  that  a  body  of 
Mormons  took  out  considerable  gold  on  Mormon 
Island,  Sacramento,  in  January,  1848.  There 
is  no  truth  in  this  statement.  The  diggings  on 
Mormon  Island  were  not  discovered  until  some 
months  after  the  discovery  at  Sutter's  mill ;  and 
in  fact,  nothing  had  occurred  in  any  part  of 
California  to  detract  from  the  credit  or  renown 
of  the  discovery  now  accorded  to  Marshall,  the 
employe  of  Sutter. 

CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  DISCOVEEY  TO 
MAKSHALL. 

But  something  yet  remains  to  be  told.  The 
history  and  the  romance  of  the  great  event 
would  be  incomplete  should  the  two  prominent 
fio-ures  in  the  foreij;round,  Sutter  and  Marshall, 
be  allowed  to  suddenly  disappear,  and  their 
subsequent  fortunes  be  consigned  to  oblivion. 

The  story  of  Mai'shall  is  simple  and  touch- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFOENIA.    117 

ing,  as  told  bj  liimself  in  documents  wliicli  it  is 
raj  good  fortune  to  possess.  From  one  of  these, 
written  in  August,  ISG-l,  in  wliicli  lie  sets  fortli 
his  claim  to  a  land-warrant,  bv  virtue  of  his 
services  in  the  Mexican  War,  I  extract  tlie  fol- 
lowing, verhatim  et  literatim.  The  document  is 
valuable  as  a  history  of  the  trials  and  tribula- 
tions of  Marshall,  and  as  affording  some  insight 
into  the  condition  of  affairs  in  that  region,  im- 
mediately following  the  discovery  of  gold. 

After  speaking  of  building  the  saw-mill  and 
discovering  the  gold,  Marshall  says :  "  TVe  fin- 
ished the  mill  and  sawed  a  little  lumber,  when 
the  valley  poured  in  its  inhabitants,  each  bent 
on  gold.  Then  came  the  gold-fever.  We  could 
not  employ  the  hands  to  run  the  mill.  Thirteen 
of  Sutter  &  Marshall's  oxen  soon  went  down 
into  the  canons,  thence  down  hungry  men's 
throats.  These  cost  $400  per  yoke  to  replace. 
Seven  of  my  horses  went  to  carry  weary  men's 
packs.  Sutter  sold  out  to  Bailey  &  Winter — 
we  formed  the  firm  of  Bailey,  Winter  &  Mar- 
shall, and  before  we  could  start  the  mill  again, 
some  white  men  murdered  some  Indians  and 
ravished  the  squaws.     The  Indians  retaliated. 


118  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

killed  the  men.  A  mob  raised  and  started  to 
limit  Indians,  but  could  not  find  them.  Took 
a  second  trip  and  found  our  friendly  Indians ; 
induced  a  part  to  come,  tellins;  them  I  wanted 
to  talk  to  them;  brought  them  to  Coloina; 
picked  out  eight  which  were  most  friendly  to 
me,  and  dismissed  the  others ;  drank  plenty  of 
whiskey ;  took  out  the  eight  Indians ;  placed 
them  in  the  direction  of  our  work-hands,  whites 
and  Indians ;  bid  them  run,  commenced  shoot- 
ing, killed  seven  of  the  eight  prisoners  and  one 
of  my  work-hands,  an  Indian.  The  mob  threat- 
ened me  to  such  an  extent  that  my  few  friends 
advised  me  to  leave  for  a  season. 

"  Knowing  the  false  manner  that  the  Indians 
had  been  made  to  beHeve  that  I  brought  all 
the  whites  into  the  mountains,  and  had  had 
their  chief  men  murdered,  I  left  until  the  mob 
dispersed,  and  the  Indians  could  be  made  to 
know  the  truth.  This  was  the  commencement 
of  my  troubles.  I  will  be  brief  with  what  re- 
mains. 

"I  returned,  found  a  smalltown  upon  my 
settlement.  I  objected  to  these  proceedings  and 
was  answered  by  some,  '  No  one  wants  your 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    119 

ground  more  than  a  year,  then  the  mines  will 
be  worked  out ; '  and  by  others,  '  It  is  mineral 
land,  you  cannot  preempt  it,  and  w^e  have  as 
good  a  right  to  it  as  you.'  I  then  could  not 
believe  tliat  the  circumstance  of  my  finding  gold 
was  to  deprive  me  of  my  rights  of  a  settler  and 
an  American  citizen,  but  such  I  soon  found  to 
be  the  case.  I  was  soon  forced  to  again  leave 
Coloma  for  want  of  food.  My  property  (that 
could  be  reached  by  a  course  of  false  litigation) 
was  swept  from  me,  and  no  one  would  give  me 
employment.  I  have  had  to  carry  my  pack  of 
thirty  or  forty  pounds  over  the  mountains,  liv- 
ing on  China  rice  alone.  If  I  sought  employ- 
ment, I  was  refused  on  the  reasoning  that  I  had 
discovered  the  gold-mines,  and  should  be  the 
one  to  employ  them;  they  did  not  wish  tlie 
man  that  made  the  discovery  under  their  con- 
trol. Again,  should  I  commence  mining  upon 
old  mining  districts,  I  soon  found  some  one 
claimed  the  ground,  backed  by  a  j)owerful  mob 
who  wanted  to  share  the  ground,  believing  that 
if  I  went  to  work  there  it  was  rich. 

"  Should  I  go  to  new  localities,  and  commence 
to  open  a  new  mine,  before  I  could  prospect  the 


120  THE   KOMAJS^CE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OE, 

ground  iniinbers  flocked  in  and  commenced 
seeking  all  aronnd  me,  and  (as  numbers  tell) 
some  one  would  find  the  lead  before  me  and 
inform  tlieir  party,  and  the  ground  was  claimed  ; 
then  I  would  travel  again.  Thus  I  wandered 
for  more  than  four  years.  In  the  spring  of 
1857  I  returned  to  Coloma,  and  was  then  able 
to  get  some  work  to  do,  such  as  digging  gardens, 
sawing  wood,  clearing  wells,  etc.  I*^one  would 
employ  me  at  my  trade  to  shove  the  plane  and 
hand-saw.  I  next  purchased  some  barren  hills 
bordering  on  Coloma  for  fifteen  dollars,  and 
commenced  planting  a  vineyard  where  I  believe 
no  one  else  would  have  attempted  it,  and  I 
would  not  had  I  had  the  means  to  do  better. 

"  Having  given  you  a  short  history  of  myself 
and  surroundings,  I  now,  in  few  words,  will 
tell  and  answer  why  I  no  sooner  applied  for  my 
bounty-lands,  feeling  myself  under  some  fatal 
influence,  a  curse,  or  at  least  some  bad  circum- 
stances. I  felt  in  my  own  mind  that  should  I 
*  then  call  for  my  warrant,  it  would  do  me  no 
good,  and  might  be  plucked  from  mc.  As  these 
influences  have  gradually  worn  out,  and  now 
for  some  two  years,  since  the  fire  of  18G2, 1  find 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF   GOLD    IN    CALIFOK^'IA.    121 

myself  treated  by  those  around  me  as  tliey  treat 
otliers,  I  have  thought  lit  to  apply  for  my 
land  in  hopes  I  may  be  able  to  raise  the 
means  to  locate  it  in  some  healthy  district,  and 
by  my  labor  procure  me  a  couple  of  old  nags  to 
draw  my  plough  (liere  I  must  do  all  by  the 
sj)ade),  two  or  three  cows,  a  few  pigs  and  chick- 
ens, and  end  my  few  remaining  days  as  com- 
fortably as  possible,  being  now  fifty-four  years 
old,  having  earned  my  land  by  faithful  service. 
I  see  no  reason  why  the  Government  should  give 
to  others  and  not  to  me.  In  God's  name,  can 
the  circumstance  of  my  being  tlie  first  to  find 
the  gold  regions  of  California  be  a  cause  to  de- 
prive me  of  every  right  pertaining  to  a  citizen 
fi'om  under  the  flag  ?  Little  did  my  great-grand- 
sire  think  that  one  of  his  descendants  would 
have  such  feelings,  when  he  set  his  name  to  the 
Articles  of  Independence  (I  mean  the  farmer 
from  New  Jersey). 

"  Ilargraves  from  my  advice  returned  to  Aus- 
tralia, went  into  its  mountains,  and  discovered 
gold,  and  was  rewarded  by  being  made  wealtliy 
by  his  government.  I,  who  discovered  gold  in 
California,  have  been  robbed  of  my  all.     How 


122  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

diiferent  lias  been  our  fortunes !  lie  can  bless 
tlie  nation  under  whose  flag  he  was  born;  should 
I  curse  mine  ?  " 

The  following  is  an  exti'act  from  one  of 
Marshall's  letters  to  General  Bid  well,  of  Califor- 
nia, on  the  occasion  of  his  election  to  Congress  : 

"  I  hereby  congratulate  jou  on  your  success. 
I  hope  you  may  be  able  to  render  some  assist- 
ance to  General  Sutter ;  he  should  be  paid  for 
losses  sustained  at  breaking  out  of  gold-fever. 
One  thing  apj)ears  to  me  remarkable,  the  perse- 
cution that  has  followed  Sutter  and  myself, 
even  when  all  was  taken  and  we  commenced 
making  an  effort  to  place  ourselves  in  a  com- 
fortable situation  as  circumstances  would  allow, 
still  retaining  our  papers  as  testimony  of  the 
past ;  the  incendiary  applies  the  torch  to  both 
our  dwellings,  all  is  destroyed.  My  cabin  was 
destroyed  in  the  fall  of  1862,  and  all  my  papers 
went.  Since  then  the  persecution  which  fol- 
lowed me  has  in  great  measure  ceased,  and  hope 
such  will  be  the  case  with  Sutter." 

The  simple  and  homely  expressions  of  Mar- 
shall afibrd  much  valuable  information.  He 
evidently  believed  that  a  curse  or  something  of 


THE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA.    123 

an  evil  nature  followed  liim  for  several  years 
subsequent  to  the  discovery  of  tlie  gold.  Mis- 
fortune was  constantly  in  Lis  path,  and  be  suf- 
fered unjustly  to  the  extent  of  bis  interest  and 
enterprise,  and  tbougb  tbese  were  exceedingly 
limited  as  compared  witb  Sutter's,  tbey  were 
every  thing  to  him. 

Throuo-b  the  exertions  of  the  Hon.  John 
Bidwell,  Marshall  obtained  his  soldier's  land- 
warrant,  but  be  still  lives  on  bis  little  fjirm  near 
Colonia,  and  devotes  himself  to  the  culture  of 
the  finer  quality  of  grapes,  in  which  he  has  bad 
marked  success.  He  is  somewhat  prominent  as 
a  member  of  the  California  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety, and  it  is  said  that  be  has  recently  become 
a  convert  to  spiritualism. 

Marshall  is  esteemed  in  his  neighborhood  as 
an  honest,  industrious,  and  good  citizen,  and 
there  is  every  prospect  that  he  will  end  his  days 
in  peace  and  comfort  near  the  spot  where,  eight- 
een years  ago,  he  discovered  tbe  gold. 


124  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OE, 

CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  TO 
SUTTEE. 

Tlie  consequences  of  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California  to  the  intelligent,  large-hearted 
pioneer  Sutter — him  in  whom  centres  the  history 
of  California  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century, 
cannot  fail  to  be  a  matter  of  lively  interest. 

Frontier  pioneers  are  made  up  of  several 
classes.  Some  flee  from  society  to  escape  the 
penalty  of  their  crimes,  others  wander  forth  to 
escape  the  restraints  of  well-regulated  society, 
while  others  go  from  pure  love  of  adventure ; 
and  there  are  the  unfortunate,  the  ruined,  who 
seek  to  hide  in  the  solitudes  of  Nature  their 
mortification  and  their  sorrows.  But  it  is  fair 
to  presume  that  the  mass  of  those  who  emigrate 
to  new  countries,  to  the  wild  frontier  regions, 
are  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  a  desire 
to  extend  society  and  build  up  empire,  believ- 
ing that  they  can  more  readily  create  a  home 
and  do  better  for  themselves  generally  in  a  new 
country  than  in  the  crowded  haunts  of  men. 
Occasionally  there  stands  out  from  this  class 
one  who,  in  intellect,  breadth  of  conception,  en- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD   IN   CALIFOENIA.    125 

ergj,  courage,  power  to  subjugate  I^ature,  and 
true  nobility  of  soul,  towers  above  them  all. 
Such  was  John  A.  Sutter, 

This  child  of  Natui'e,  reared  in  the  artificial 
society  of  Europe,  was  no  reckless  adventurer, 
seeking  to  escape  the  restraints  of  society,  or  to 
gratify  an  aimless  love  of  roving  and  adventure. 
Ilis  whole  history  exhibits  him  as  a  man  of 
broad,  fixed,  and  intelligent  purpose,  and  as 
pursuing  this  purpose  with  a  single-mindedness 
seldom  equalled. 

We  have  read  how  Sutter,  when  a  young 
man,  liberally  educated,  having  means  and 
holding  a  good  position  in  the  army  of  France, 
cast  his  eyes  across  the  broad  Atlantic,  and  re- 
solved to  establish  a  colony  of  his  countrymen — 
Swiss — on  the  frontiei*s  of  the  United  States, 
west  of  the  Mississij)pi  Eiver.  We  have  read 
how  he  came  over  to  this  country  as  the  pio- 
neer, and  how  at  an  early  day  his  project  was 
frustrated  by  disaster.  With  undaunted  spirit 
and  enlarged  views,  he  conceives  another  plan — 
that  of  establishing  a  colony  in  the  wilds  of 
California.  Several  years  are  occupied  in  ad- 
venturous wandering,  to  reach  the  locality  of 


12G  THE   KOMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OE, 

liis  clioice — that  terra  incognita^  unexplored  aud 
unknown  even  to  tlie  intelligent  inhabitants  of 
the  Territory  of  California.  Once  located,  we' 
find  him  casting  his  lot  almost  alone  among  the 
w^ild  and  barbarous  tribes  of  Indians.  Then  we 
see  him  building  a  substantial  fort  on  strictly 
military  principles,  mounting  cannon,  and  bring- 
ing whites  and  savages  under  military  disci- 
plin.  In  a  few  years  we  find  that  he  has  sub- 
jugated the  country  around  him,  making  friends 
of  the  wild  and  barbarous  tribes  of  Indians,  who 
at  first  were  his  fiercest  enemies ;  and  all  this 
was  accomplished,  not  more  by  his  military 
tactics  and  resources,  than  by  his  powers  of 
mind  and  attractive  personal  qualities  in  dealing 
with  the  rough,  uncultivated  whites  and  the  wild 
children  of  Nature.  Where  once  was  found  only 
the  solitude,  the  silence,  the  desolation  of  isolated 
and  unknown  wilds,  iind  where  were  heard  the 
whoop  and  yell  of  savages,  or  the  howl  of  wild 
beasts,  there  arose  the  habitations  of  civilized 
man.  The  ringing  of  the  anvil,  the  sound  of 
the  hammer,  the  saw,  and  the  plane,  and  the 
song  of  the  husbandman,  were  heard.  Broad 
fields  teemed  with  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  the 


THE   DISCOVEKY    OF   GOLD   IN    CALIFORNIA.    127 

plains  were  dotted  witli  lowing  lierds,  and  peace 
and  prosperity  rested  over  the  valley  of  the 
Sacramento. 

The  fame  of  this  charming  country  and  of 
its  successful  development  by  Sutter  spread  far 
and  wide,  and  bands  of  emigrants  began  to 
turn  their  steps  thither  ;  and  when  any  of  these 
arrived,  poor  and  destitute,  their  wants  were 
bountifully  and  gratuitously  supplied  by  the 
unselfish  Sutter.  It  is  such  as  Sutter  who  are 
the  real  founders  of  ein])ire. 

Even  had  there  been  no  gold  in  California 
to  discover,  Sutter's  enterprise  would  have  for- 
ever stood  out  as  the  best  conceived  and  most 
extensively  successful  instance  of  pioneering  to 
1)0  found  in  American  history.  But  when  it  is 
connected  with  the  fortuitous  circumstances  of 
the  time,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  through  the 
direct  agency  of  Sutter's  enterprise  that  the 
gold  was  ultimately  discovered,  some  years, 
doubtless,  before  it  otherwise  would  have  been, 
and  that  Sutter  subjugated  and  partially  peopled 
the  country,  by  which  the  results  of  the  great 
discovery  were  immensely  hastened,  it  gives  to 
the  hero  of  the  story  a  fame  that  can  only  be 
forgotten  with  the  event  itself. 


128  THE   EOMANCE   OF   THE    AGE;    OK, 

At  tlie  time  of  tlie  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia, February,  1848,  it  ^\-ill  be  remembered 
that  General  Sutter  was  in  peaceful  and  undis- 
puted possession  of  immense  tracts  of  land,  of 
broad  fields  of  growing  crops,  of  a  valuable 
military  fort,  of  houses,  shops,  mills,  and  other 
improvements,  and  almost  countless  cattle,  hor- 
ses, sheep,  and  swine.  lie  was  the  military 
commander  of  the  district,  and  Indian  agent  of 
the  territory.  Respected  and  honored  by  all. 
General  Sutter  was  the  great  man  of  tlie  coun- 
try. What  is  General  Sutter's  condition  now  ? 
Let  the  following  brief  statement  of  fticts  an- 
swer : 

A  week  after  Sutter's  return  from  the  saw- 
mill to  the  fort,  February  5,  1848,  the  news  of 
the  discovery  of  the  gold  was  generally  known 
in  that  region,  and,  in  consequence,  he  was  im- 
mediately deserted  by  all  his  mechanics  and  la- 
borers— white,  Kanaka,  and  Indian.  The  mills 
were  abandoned,  and  became  a  dead  loss.  Labor 
could  not  be  hired  to  plant,  to  mature  the  crops, 
or  reap  and  gather  the  grain  that  ripened. 

At  au  early  period  subsequent  to  the  dis- 
covery, an  immense  emigration  Ironi  overland 


.THE   DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    129 

])oiired  into  the  Sacramento  Yallej,  making  Sut- 
ter's domains  their  camping-ground,  without  the 
least  regard  for  the  rights  of  property.  They 
occupied  his  cultivated  fields,  and  squatted  all 
over  his  available  lands,  saying  they  were  the 
unappropriated  domain  of  the  United  States,  to 
which  they  had  as  good  a  right  as  any  one. 
They  stole  and  drove  off  his  horses  and  mules, 
and  exchanged  or  sold  them  in  other  parts  of 
the  country ;  they  butchered  his  cattle,  sheep, 
and  hogs,  and  sold  the  meat.  One  party  of 
live  men,  during  the  flood  of  1849-'50,  when 
the  cattle  were  suiTOunded  by  water  near  the 
Sacramento  River,  killed  and  sold  $60,000 
worth  of  these — as  it  was  estimated — and  left 
for  the  States.  By  the  first  of  January,  1852, 
the  so-called  settlers,  under  pretence  of  preemp- 
tion claims,  had  appropriated  all  Sutter's  lands 
ca])able  of  settlement  or  appropriation,  and  they 
had  stolen  all  his  horses,  mules,  cattle,  sheep, 
and  hogs,  except  a  small  portion  used  and  sold 
by  himself. 

There  was  no  law  to  prevent  this  stupendous 
robbery;  but  when  the  law  was  established, 
there   came  lawyers  with   it  to   advocate   the 


130  THE   ROMANCE   OF   THE   AGE;    OR, 

squatters'  pretensions,  although  there  were  none 
from  any  part  of  Christendom  who  had  not 
heard  of  Sutter's  grants,  the  peaceful  and  just 
possession  of  which  he  had  enjoyed  for  ten 
years,  and  his  improvements  were  visible  to  all. 

Sutter's  efforts  to  maintain  his  rights,  and 
save  even  enough  of  his  property  to  give  him 
an  economical  and  comfortable  living,  constitute 
a  sad  history,  one  that  would  of  itself  fill  a  vol- 
ume of  painful  interest.  In  these  efforts  he  be- 
came involved  in  continuous  and  exjiensive  liti- 
gation, which  M'as  not  terminated  till  the  final 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  1858-'59,  a 
period  of  ten  years. 

When  the  United  States  Court  of  Land  Com- 
missioners was  organized  in  California,  Sutter's 
grants  came  up  in  due  course  for  confirmation. 
These  were  the  grant  of  eleven  leagues,  known 
as  New  nelvetia,  and  the  grant  of  twenty-two 
leagues,  known  as  the  Sobrante. 

The  land  commissioners  found  these  grants 
perfect.  Not  a  flaw  or  defect  could  be  discoverd 
in  either  of  them,  and  they  were  confirmed  by 
the  board,  under  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo. 


TUE   DISCOVERY   OF    GOLD   IN   CALIFORNIA.    131 

Tlie  squatter  interest  then  appealed  to  the 
United  States  District  Court  for  tlie  Northern 
District  of  California.  This  court  confirmed 
the  decision  of  the  land  commissioners.  Ex- 
traordinary as  it  may  appear,  the  squatter  inter- 
est then  appealed  both  cases  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  ^States,  at  Washington, 
and  still  more  extraordinary  to  relate,  that 
court,  though  it  confirmed  the  eleven-league 
grant,  decided  that  of  the  Sohrante — twenty-two 
leagues — in  favor  of  the  squatters.  The  court 
acknowledged  that  the  grant  was  a  "genuine 
and  meritorious  "  one,  and  then  decided  in  favor 
of  the  squatter  interest  on  purely  technical 
grounds,  and  Sutter's  ruin  was  complete.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  singular  cases  of  law  versus 
justice  that  can  be  found  in  the  annals  of  juris- 
prudence ;  and  it  shows  very  clearly  that  the 
science  of  law,  as  yet,  is  not,  in  reality,  regu- 
lated by  any  standard  above  that  which  the  low 
and  selfish  instincts  of  man  have  established. 

The  method  of  Sutter's  ruin  may  be  thus 
stated.  He  had  been  subjected  to  a  very  great 
outlay  of  money  in  the  maintenance  of  his  title, 
the  occupancy  and  the  improvement  of  the 
grant  of  New  Helvetia. 


132  THE   KOiSIANCE   OF   THE   AGE  ;    OR, 

From  a  mass  of  interesting  docnments  whicli 
I  have  been  permitted  to  examine,  1  obtained 
tlie  following  statement  relative  to  tbe  expenses 

incurred  on  tliat  grant : 

Expenses  in  money,  and  services,  which  formed 

the  original  consideration  of  tlie  grant,      .    ^50,000 

Surveys  and  taxes  on  the  same,        .        .        ,      50,000 

Cost  of  litigation  extending  through  ten  years, 
including  fees  to  eminent  counsel,  witness 
fees,  travelling  expenses,  etc.,     .        .        .    125,000 

Amount  paid  out  to  make  good  the  covenants 
of  deeds  upon  the  grant,  over  and  above 
what  was  received  from  sales,    .        .        .    100,000 


$325,000 

In  addition.  General  Sutter  had  given  titles 
to  much  of  the  Sobrante  grant,  under  deeds  of 
general  warranty,  which,  after  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  tlic  United  States  in  favor 
of  the  squatter  interest,  Sutter  was  obliged  to 
make  good,  at  an  immense  sacrifice,  out  of  the 
Xew  Helvetia  grant;  so  that  the  confirmation 
of  his  title  to  this  grant  was,  comparatively,  of 
little  advantage  to  him.  Thus  Sutter  lost  all 
his  landed  estate. 

But   amid   the  Avreck  and  ruin   that  came 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD    IN    CALIFORNIA.    133 

upon  Lim  in  cumulative  degree  from  year  to 
year,  Sutter  managed  to  save,  for  a  period,  what 
is  known  as  Hock  farm,  a  very  extensive  and  val- 
uable estate  on  the  Feather  River.  This  estate 
lie  proposed  to  secure  as  a  resting-place  in  his 
old  age,  and  for  the  separate  benefit  of  his  wife 
and  children,  whom  he  had  brought  from  Swit- 
zerland in  1852,  having  been  separated  from 
them  eighteen  years.  Sutter's  titles  being  gen- 
erally discredited,  his  vast  flocks  and  herds 
having  dwindled  to  a  few  head,  and  his  resources 
all  gone,  he  was  no  longer  able  to  hire  labor  to 
work  the  farm  ;  and  as  a  final  catastrophe,  the 
farm  mansion  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire  in 
18G5,  and  with  it  all  General  Sutter's  valuable 
records  of  his  pioneer  life. 

As  difficulties  augmented,  Sutter  was  obliged 
to  trench  on  Hock  Farm  for  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. His  wife  united  with  him  in  mortgage 
after  mortgage  on  the  farm,  every  foot  of  which, 
save  one  small  piece,  has  long  since  been  sold 
by  the  sherifi".  That  small  piece  is  now  at  the 
mercy  of  the  last  mortgagee,  and  Sutter,  with 
his  family — he  who,  if  allowed  his  rights,  could 
buy  out  a  Kothschild,  an  Astor,  or  a  Stewart — 


134  TJIE   ROMANCE   OF   THE    AGE  ;    OK, 

is  absolutely  a  wanderer  on  tlic  face  of  the  earth, 
without  a  home  or  resting-place. 

What  a  sad  termination  of  a  nseful,  noble, 
grand  life — a  life,  the  progressive  results  of  which 
are  felt,  in  a  revolutionary  degree,  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  The  mind  of  man  never  con- 
ceived a  fiction  so  strange  as  the  truth  of  the 
story  contained  in  this  little  book.  The  wildest 
dreams  of  the  romancer  never  equalled  the 
reality  of  this  great  romance  of  the  age. 

It  seems  incredible  that  the  rich  and  great 
State  of  California,  the  generous  instincts  and 
liberal  views  of  whose  people  never  allow  them 
to  do  any  thing  of  a  patriotic,  honorable,  and 
just  character,  on  a  small  scale,  can  see  their 
great  pioneer  pass  from  earth,  unknown,  un- 
honored,  and  in  want;  and  it  is  still  more  in- 
credible that  the  American  nation  can  sufi'er  so 
foul  a  blot  on  its  escutcheon,  as  would  be  the 
historical  fact,  that  the  sun  which  illumined  a 
life  so  genial  and  good — a  life  that  has  yielded, 
through  hardship,  toil,  and  courageous  expo- 
sure, such  immense  national  benefit — was  per- 
mitted to  go  down  in  penury,  sorrow,  and 
gloon,.  ^  g 


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jooi-u  at  Calcutta." 

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THE  LIFE  OF  MAN  SYMBOLIZED 


THE    MONTHS    OF    THE    YEAR, 

I/i  their  Seasons  and  JP/iiisex,  intk  Panxages  /^elected  from  Ancient  and 
Modem  Aut/tor.'i, 

Accompaiiicd  by  n  poriea  of  Twentv-five  ftill-imfje  Ilhistrationa,  anc 

vices,  Dtcoriitfd  Initiiil  Lcttira  iiii.l  Tiiil-ini-rcs,  cnKrav 

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This  volnmc  consists  of  Twelve  Sections,  into  which  the  Life  of  Man  is  di- 
vidctl,  to  accord  with  llie  Twelve  IMoutlis  of  the  Year,  and  the  progress  of 
nature,  from  the  germination  of  the  seed  to  the  decay  of  the  tree. 

The  progressive  developments  of  the  pliysical  and  moral  attributes  of  ^^an 
are  shown  in  each  Month  concurrently  witli  the  growth  of  the  Year;  and  tlie 
varying  phases  of  his  passions,  pursuits,  and  aspirations  are  exhibited  in  pas- 
sages talien  from  ancient  and  modern  writers.  These  arc  cited  in  the  typo- 
gr.iphical  characters  of  their  res|)ecti  ve  periods,  appropriatelj'  and  suggestively 
illustrated  by  many  hundreds  of  marginal  devices,  initial  vignettes,  and  tail- 
pieces. 

Kach  page  of  the  hook  is  enclosed  in  a  framework,  which  serves  as  a  setting 
for  proverbs,  and  other  aphorismatic  sentences,  in  harmony  with  the  text. 
Each  section  is  preceded  by  two  full-page  engravings,  of  which,  including  the 
general  frontispiece,  llieio  are  twenty-tive,  ]uinled  within  red  rules.  Twelve 
of  them,  illustrating  tlie  life  of  man  trom  llie  cradle  to  the  grave,  also  einbody 
the  progress  of  the  seasons,  and  the  varying  aspects  of  nature,  as  seen  under 
an  Knglish  sky.  The  other  twelve  comprise  a  series  of  medallion  portraits, 
from  tile  infant  to  the  patriarch,  combined  with  floral  emblems  and  other  sym- 
bolical attributes,  in  keeping  with  the  central  subject. 

Subjects  of  the  Thirteen  Cardinal  Illustrations  : 

Frontispiece. — All  the  World's  a  Stug«. 
THE   INFANT. 

Jantiory.— The  Birth  of  the  Year.  The  ten- 
der otfspriiij;  is  rescued  from  the  snow.  The 
Bcion  parted  from  the  parent  tree. 

TUB  SCllOOtBOY. 
I'ebrunrt/. — Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he 
Bnould  f;o.     As  the  sapling  is  pruu«d  and  bent, 
so  will  it  grow. 

THE  STRIPLING. 
March. — Mental  and  physical  exercises  com- 
bine to  develop  the  youthful  faculties.    The 
supple  tree  bends  to    the    breeze,   buds,    and 
Btrengtuens. 

THE  LOVER. 
April. — Love  and  hope  temper  and  tench  the 
early  man — as  the  tree  develops  under  sunshiuo 
uud  shower. 

THE    FATHER. 
May, — The  man  becomes  the  father  of  many 
children — as  the  tree  extends  its  brunches  uuil 
puU  forth  fruitful  buds. 

THE   SOLDIER, 
f/un*.— With  Increased  strength  come  greater 
trials  and  duties — as  the  tree  grows,  more  stout- 
ly does  it  reri»t  the  elenieuU. 


THE   MERCHANT. 
July.— The  mind  sobers  with  age.     Gravity 
and  prudence  mark  the  man.    The  ladeu  treo 
is  less  agitated  by  every  gentle  breeze. 

THE   MAGISTRATE. 
Augusf. — The  pursuits  of  an  industrious,  use- 
ful tile  tend  to  B  peaceful  rest — as  the  fruitful 
treo  reposes  whilst  yet  clothed  with  verdure. 

THE   PniLOSOPHER. 

September. — Man  is  borne  onward.    Wisdom 

and  charity  are  the  solace  of  his  declining  years. 

The  tree  reposes  alter  tilling  the  guruer  with  its 

fruit. 

THE   ORANDSIEE. 
October, — InOrmities  steal  on.    A  man's  ac- 
tions form  precedents  for  iiis  erandchildrcn. — As 
the  tree  decays,  it  enriches  tue  soil  for  a  future 
generation. 

THE   CENSOR. 
Xovemher. — The  senses  grow  dim,nnd  strength 
gradually  fails.      The  venerable  tree,  uuublo 
longer  to  support  itself,  requires  aid. 

THE   PATRIARCH. 

/)rcfmJtr.— The  llame  of  life  departs  from  the 

biidy,  the  spirit  Hies,— as  the  withered  trunk  is 

|,n..,'lrat«;J  beiore  the  gale. 


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A  STANDARD  BOOK  OF  REFERENCE. 


T  e:  E 


HOUSEHOLD  BOOK  OF  POETllY. 

Collected  and  Edited  by  CDiRLES  A.  DANA. 

Tenth  Edition.   Royal  8  vo.    798  pp.    Beautifully  printed. 
Halfmor.,  gilt  lop,  $  ;  half  calf,  extra,  $        ;  mor.  ant. ,  $    . 


"The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  comprise  within  the  hounds  of  a  single  volume 
whatever  is  truly  beautiful  and  admirable  among  tlie  minor  poems  of  the  English 
language.  *  *  *  lOspucial  care  has  also  been  taken  to  give  every  poem  entiip 
and  unmutilated,  as  well  as  in  the  most  authentic  form  which  could  be  procured." 
— Extract  from  Preface. 

"  This  work  is  an  immense  improvement  on  all  its  predecessors.  The  editor,  who 
is  one  of  the  most  erudite  of  scholars,  and  a  man  of  excellent  taste,  has  arranged 
liis  selections  under  ten  heads,  namely  :  I'oems  of  Nature,  of  Childhood,  of  Friend- 
ship, of  Love,  of  Ambition,  of  Comedy,  of  Tragedy  and  Sorrow,  of  the  Imagination, 
of  Sentiment  and  Kellection,  and  of  Religion.  The  entire  number  of  poems  given 
is  about  two  thousand,  taken  from  the  writings  of  English  and  American  poets,  and 
including  some  of  the  finest  versions  of  poems  from  ancient  and  modern  languages. 
The  selections  appear  to  be  a<lmii-ably  made,  nor  do  we  think  that  it  would  be 
possible  for  any  one  to  improve  upon  this  collection." — Boston  Truteller. 

"  Within  a  similar  comp.iss,  there  is  no  collection  of  poetry  in  the  language 
that  equals  this  in  variety,  in  richness  of  thought  and  expression,  i.nd  of  poetic 
imagery." —  Worcester  Palladium. 

"This  is  a  choice  collection  of  the   finest  poems  in  the  English  language,  and 
supplies  in  some  measure  the  place  of  an  extensive  library.     Mr.  Dana  has  done  a 
capital  service  in  bringing  within  the  reach  of  all  the  richest  thoughts  that  grace  . 
our  standard  poetical  literature." — Chicago  Prens. 

"  A  work  that  has  long  been  required,  and,  we  are  convinced  from  the  selectioEo 
made,  and  the  admirable  manner  in  which  they  arc  arranged,  will  commend  itself 
at  once  to  the  public." — Detroit  Advertiser. 

"  Never  was  a  book  more  appropriately  named.  By  the  exercise  cf  a  sound  and 
skilful  judgment,  and  a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  i>oetical  productions  of  all 
nations,  the  comjiiler  of  this  work  h.is  succeeded  in  combining,  within  the  space  of 
a  single  volume,  nearly  every  poem  of  established  worth  and  compatible  length  in 
the  English  language." — l'hiladc/j//iia  Joarinil. 

"  It  gives  us  in  an  elegant  and  compact  form  such  a  body  of  verse  as  can  be 
found  in  no  other  volume  or  series  of  volumes.  It  is  by  far  the  most  comjilete 
collection  that  has  ever  been  made  of  Knglish  lyrical  poetry." — Boston  Traniscript. 

"  Among  the  similar  works  which  have  appeared  we  do  not  hesitate  to  give  this 
the  highest  place."— /V-o?;i«/€/ice  Journal. 

"  We  are  acquainted  with  no  selections  which,  in  point  of  completeness  and  good 
taste,  excel  the  '  Household  Book  of  I'oetry.'  "—Northwestern  Home  Journal. 

"  !t  is  alinost  needless  to  say  that  it  is  a  mine  of  poetic  wealth."— fiwf^ow  Post. 


UNIVtKtjllY    Ut-    t-ALlhUKNlA    Al     LOS    ANtitLfcSj 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


JAN  ^     ^9^^ 


FEB  2  9  194n 


OEC  2  8  1961 


-Oi 


1^?^^ 


M<^t\yl0   151983 


f  -  M     0 


o  .,,  .1  1955 


A.M. 


a' 


*fCO  ID-Oiji 


r'> 


Foini  L!»-2(l;;/H.':!l 


OCT  2  01969 


«ll^.,Ms|fc1?l'«  / 


^Ms  19« 


URL 


-r..^,)9% 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA     001326  801 


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